Piaggio hopes to capture 15-20% of north's market with Ape Truk

With the launch of new four-wheeler 'Ape Truk' in Chandigarh, Piaggio Vehicles (P) Ltd hopes to garner a 15-20 per cent market share in the below-one-tonne commercial vehicle category in the northern region.

The company hopes that the new four-wheeler truck would help thousands of SMEs, traders and entrepreneurs in the region. In the northern region, there is a demand of 1,000 vehicles per month in the sub 1-tonne commercial vehicle category.

Speaking to Business Standard, Piaggio Vehicles (P) Ltd Director (Sales & Marketing) Ashutosh Khosla said: "The lower end of the light commercial vehicle (LCV) market in India is seeing a major upheaval. The Supreme Court ban on overloading of cargo vehicles, and a ban on entry of heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs) into cities has turned the focus squarely on the LCV and sub-LVC segment. Anticipating the need for a sub-one tonne pickup that would economically and efficiently fill the gap between the lower end of the LCV category and the larger 3-wheelers, we have introduced 'Ape Truk' in the Indian market."

On being asked about the Chandigarh and Punjab market, he said, "We have a market share of 90 per cent in three-wheeler passenger segment and 56 per cent in cargo segment (three-wheeler). With this launch, initially we would focus on Chandigarh and later on Punjab and Haryana market."

According to him, there was a demand of 60 vehicles in sub 1-tonne category in Chandigarh and 1,000 vehicles in the same category every month in the region.

Following Punjab and Haryana, the "Ape Truk" will rapidly roll out across the country over the next few months. At present the company has production capacity of 36,000 per annum of "Ape Truk" at Baramati, Maharashtra.

Commenting upon future plans, he said, "Very soon we would introduce, delivery van and high-deck van in the Indian market."

The company produces 500 three-wheelers, both passenger and cargo combined, per day and has a capacity of 2,00,000 three-wheelers per annum. This calendar year, the company hopes to sell 1,60,000 vehicles.