Eicher plans to export trucks to Sri Lanka

The Rs 900-crore Eicher Motor Ltd will soon start exports of heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs) to Sri Lanka through Eicher International, the export arm of the Eicher group.

The company is also in talks with the Sri Lankan government to lift the ban on sales of motorcycles with a capacity of 500 cc or more.

The company is targeting a 10 per cent market share of the 5,000-unit commercial vehicle market (HCVs and light commercial vehicles) in Sri Lanka. The market is at present dominated by Tata Motors with almost an 60""65 per cent share, followed by Ashok Leyland.

As regards lifting the ban on sales of motorcycles with a capacity of 500 cc and above, the Sri Lankan government, due to the terrorism problem, had banned their sale.

S Vaithiswaran, head of Eicher International said, "We would rather take the entire suite of products, including 500-cc bikes, than just launch the 350-cc Enfield series."

Discussing the company's plans to launch the HCV brands in Lanka, he said, "We have done some roadshows in the past six weeks. We plan to gain a toehold with the launch of Eicher Jumbo 20.16 and Eicher 10.75."

The company is selling its LCVs in Sri Lanka. While the Jumbo 20.16 has a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 16 tonnes and a payload of 10 tonnes, the Jumbo 10.75 has a gross vehicle weight of 7.5 tonnes, and a payload of 5 tonnes.

The trucks sold in Sri Lanka will have additional features like air-conditioned driver cabins and power steering. Though the company has sold 20 trucks in the test phase, the date of full launch is yet to be finalised.

After being a light and medium commercial vehicles segment player for some time now, Eicher Motors recently entered the heavy commercial vehicles segment by piloting its HCV""the Eicher Jumbo 20.16 in select markets. The company sold 224 units in the first four months of this financial year and 3,189 goods carriers in the same period.