New product launches are expected to drive growth in the utility vehicle segment
Multi-utility vehicles (MUVs) have had a relatively better year than tractors. While demand for hard-top UVs remained more or less stagnant at around 85,000 units, the steep decline in sales of soft-top vehicles was offset by the unexpected surge of 11 per cent in pick-up truck volumes. Overall, MUVs witnessed a decline of two per cent in sales to 1.25 lakh units during the first quarter.
This, despite the fact that the MUV segment experienced unprecedented activity in the last fiscal. Market leader Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) launched 11 new models (including Bolero, Royalle, Max) in the MUV range. Consequently, it was not only able to maintain but also improve its market share by 75 basis points to 45.6 per cent, registering a sales volume of 56,923 units. In addition to this, Bajaj Tempo also introduced two new models, Judo and Gama. Both have received an encouraging response in the semi-rural and rural parts of the country.
This year, the trend is expected to continue. M&M is slated to launch nine new variants of its existing models in this fiscal. Moreover, other large players in this segment, especially sports utility vehicle manufacturers, are also introducing new models and variants to attract passenger car customers to the UV segment.
In the first quarter of FY03, the light commercial vehicle segment continued its growth momentum, surging by 73 per cent, even as the overall MUV market declined by two per cent. M&M already seems to be reaping the benefits of its new products: it posted a growth of nine per cent, primarily on the back of an encouraging response to the Bolero Camper, which contributed significantly to the product mix.
Outlook: With aggressive launches in the hard-top segment -- which contributes to around 70 per cent of total MUV volumes -- analysts expect fierce competition between M&M, Tata Engineering and Toyota. These three players control over 85 per cent of the MUV market.
The launch of M&M
