 "TVS takes the road test")
As part of its strategy to be present across every segment in the two wheeler category, TVS Motor recently launched two bikes, the 200cc Apache and the 110cc Victor. With these, the company expects to strengthen its foothold in both performance and commuter bike segments while pushing up its share of the entire two wheeler market in India. Keen to break the market dominance of rivals such as Hero, Bajaj Auto and Honda, TVS has also roped in a branding agency to help with its positioning and promotional exercises. The company however refused to divulge the name of the agency or the terms of its engagement, except that this is the same firm that advises beleaguered German automaker Volkswagen.
Venu Srinivasan, chairman, TVS Motor, said that the two new launches were a reiteration of the company's promise to deliver high quality, customer centric products. The company has invested around Rs 300 crore in developing and manufacturing these bikes, which he said, would significantly improve its share of the market in India.
The aim is to increase the TVS brands' market share in the overall motorcycles segment from seven to 10 per cent by the end of this year. In the premium segment the company wants to go up from 17 to 22 per cent and it wants to raise its share of the two-wheeler market to 18 per cent by the end of the year.
Currently TVS Motor, with 13.5 per cent share of the market for the period April to December 2015, lags behind market leaders Hero (38.7 per cent) and Honda (26.1 per cent). With its new bikes and the tie-up with BMW-Motorrad that it entered into a couple of years back, for premium and high-powered motorcycles, TVS is expecting to see a surge in its market shares. And a lot rests on the two new bikes it has put out on the road.
Victor first hit the roads way back in 2001. It was the first motorcycle TVS launched after its split with Suzuki. Despite its initial success, the brand was soon crowded out by a host of new launches from rival auto majors. TVS has struggled to regain its lost footing in the segment which it hopes to do with the new Victor. The company is targeting commuters with this bike - a segment that constitutes nearly 40 per cent of the two-wheeler industry and where it is pitted against Hero's Splendor/Passion Pro and Honda's Dream series and Livo.
The strategy, the company says, is to push premium bikes and scooters in urban markets and commuter bikes in rural markets, where the TVS moped is a big success. The Victor is priced between Rs 49,490 and Rs 51,490, while the Apache sells between Rs 88,990 and Rs 1,15,00 (ex-showroom New Delhi).
The Apache RTR 200 is a racing bike and will take on the likes of KTM Duke 200, Bajaj Pulsar 200 NS and others. This segment has seen steady growth over the past three years; it reported sales of 21,220 units (industry sales) in 2015-16 as compared to 16,471 units in 2014-15 and 12,092 units in 2013-14. Arun Siddharth, senior general manager and head (marketing), Motorcycles at TVS Motor said that Apache brand is growing at around 30 per cent and it is the second largest brand in this segment. It is aimed at students and racing enthusiasts. Experts, who tested the bike, believe that it may be a little late to come to the scene but it still is a well-engineered product of very high quality.
The company has invested heavily in the engineering and design of the bike. Srinivasan said that his company has been doing so over the last five years, resulting in brand acceptance and quality for TVS. "This year we will see a big growth in motorcycle space," he said.
Motorcycles, however, have seen sluggish growth over the April-December 2015 period. According to recent figures by the Society of Indian Automobiles (SIAM) sales of motorcycles declined 2.5 per cent in the first nine months of the current financial year, when sales of scooters grew 11.4 per cent.
However K N Radhakrishnan, president and CEO, TVS Motor added that motorycles were critical for TVS. He was unperturbed by the recent trends in the market. Customers constantly seek something new and "as an OEM we need to keep coming with appropriate models based on customer requirements," he said. He added that the industry goes through its ups and downs and if one takes a long term approach, over 10-15 years the industry could grow by around 10-12 per cent easily. He is also confident that the product itself can be its best brand ambassador. TVS will hope that both Victor and Apache live up to his conviction.
