Kolkata-based Vibgyor Vehicles, the flagship company of Vibgyor Allied Industries which entered into the automobile industry with a 100 cc two-wheeler under Gallop brand in 2009, is planning to foray into the scooter and three-wheeler segment by the end of this year.
“We will be coming up with a powerful scooter tentatively sometime in June or July this year,” Saumik K Deb, CEO of Vibgyor Allied Industries said.
The scooter will come out from Company's existent plant at Dankuni in West Bengal as the production will start in May this year, he said. However, price of the scooter has not been decided yet.
On the company's venture into the three-wheeler segment, he said, “We have plans to come out with three-wheeler also. However this is still in the R&D stage and work may start only at the end of this year.”
As the company is targeting the farmers and small enterprenures in rural and sub-urban areas for its three-wheeler goods-carrier, it plans to offer a competitive price.
“We would like to keep the price of the three-wheeler under Rs one lakh so that it is affordable to small enterprenures,” Saumik K Deb said.
Vibgyor Vehicles which is a part of the diversified Vibgyor group of companies with interest in retail, realty, hospitality and education among others, has its presence in the two-wheeler market with brands like Gallop, Hunter, Persona and Shark. It has sold about 23,000 in the first three quarters of 2010-11 against 10,550 units in the previous fiscal, with the rural and sub-urban areas of Uttar Pradesh being the biggest market for the company's product. However, the company expects its sales to reach 1.5 lakh units by the next financial year.
The company earlier had said that it's total investment in the automobile sector would be around Rs 660 crore at the end of next financial year as it has plans to come up with new plant in Uttar Pradesh apart from its existing plants at Dankuni and Dhulagori in West Bengal.
Expanding its footsteps into the two-wheeler segment, Vibgyor Vehicles will also be launching two upgraded versions of existing models before the festive season in Bengal on October.
“We will be launching one 100 cc and one 150 cc bike before the Puja,” he said
While the upgraded version of Gallop 100cc bike will be available at the price range of Rs 32000 to Rs 35000, the renewed version of Hunter 150 cc bike will be priced at somewhere between Rs 39,000 to Rs 45000, he added.The company which is presently exporting 3,000-3,500 units per year to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal, has plans to export two-wheelers to some of the African and Latin American countries too.
“We will be exporting 20 per cent of our total production. We are currently exporting Gallop and Hunter to Bangladesh and Nepal and planning to export to African countries like Kenya, Nigeria and some of the Latin American nations. In fact, talks for export to a Latin American country has reached almost final stage,” he added.
