TVS to rev up market share

TVS Motor Company is all set to increase its market share in the economy and executive segments of the Indian motorcycle market with the launch of 'Victor Edge' and 'Star City' today. The bikes are technologically upgraded versions of the existing 'Victor' and 'Star' brands respectively.

Victor Edge would serve the executive segment, whereas Star City would cater to the economy segment.

"Since the bottom end of the urban market is exploding, we are expecting to increase our sales in the economy segment from 30,000 to 50,000 units per month (pm) with the launch of our new product in this segment. The economy segment is growing at 35-40 per cent monthly, higher than the market growth rate of 15-20 per cent," said R Chandramouli, senior vice president, sales and service, TVS Motor.

The company is targeting sales of 32,000 units pm in the executive segment, 77 per cent higher than the current 18,000 units pm. The company has a market share of 23 per cent in the economy segment and 13 per cent market share in executive segment, said Chandramouli.

The company will launch one more model this year. "We will be launching one more model in the premier segment, where we have only one model, TVS Fiero. We are currently selling around 2,000-3,000 unit pm in this category thereby enjoying a market share of four per cent," he added.

The company exports around 7,000-8,000 motorcycles every year contributing seven per cent to the company's turnover. "Exports are expected to contribute around 10 per cent to the overall sales by 2006-07," he added.

TVS is eyeing a 20 per cent growth in sales, over previous year's sale of 1.17 million motorcycles. It registered a turnover of Rs 735 crore in the first quarter of 2005-06, which was more than 25 per cent of last year's turnover of Rs 2,900 crore.