Piaggio eyes 5-fold rise in Ape Truk sales

Piaggio Vehicles, the Indian arm of Italian auto company Piaggio, is planning a three-pronged strategy to boost the sales of its four-wheeler Ape Truk, a sub-one-tonne light commercial vehicle launched in May 2007.

Piaggio sold 4,000 units of Ape Truk in the country in 2007 and expects to sell 18,000-20,000 units in the calendar year 2008.

The company's three-pronged strategy envisages a pan-Indian presence, more product variants and sharpening of sales and marketing activities, said J Narayanan, general manager (customer care and NPI).

The company launched two variants of the Ape three-wheeler, Ape Xtra and Ape Xtra LD, targeting the light transportation sector, in Chennai today.

Piaggio last year launched its 482-cc Ape Truk in the sub-one tonne commercial vehicle category, which is currently dominated by Tata's Ace.

The size of the four-wheeler market in the sub-one tonne segment is estimated at one lakh units and Tata's Ace accounts for 95 per cent of the market followed by Ape Truk and M4 of Force Motors, according to Narayanan.

As part of its business strategy, Piaggio plans to roll out the Ape Truk in more cities and towns across India this year and increase its presence to 670 locations from 550 locations presently.

The company has the capacity to manufacture 36,000 units of the Ape Truk at its Baramati plant in Maharashtra.

The production capacity at the plant could be ramped up quickly depending on market demand as it is a modular type of production facility.

On the three-wheeler front "" both passenger and cargo vehicles "" the company sold 1.55 lakh units in 2007 and is targeting sales of 1.7 lakh units in 2008. The company currently has a capacity to manufacture 2 lakh three-wheelers.

Piaggio has reported topline growth of 15 per cent over the past two years. Its turnover in 2007 was over Rs 1,500 crore. "We expect 10-11 per cent topline growth in 2008," Nayaranan added.