Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Oct 01, 2003 |
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Corporate
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Outlook Piaggio draws Rs 100-cr map to double capacity Neha Kaushik
New Delhi , Sept. 30 PIAGGIO Vehicles, which manufactures three-wheelers, is planning to spend a little over Rs 100 crore to double capacity at its Baramati facility to 1,00,000 units by mid-2004. "We are progressively enhancing capacity. Apart from this, we are also enhancing our product range to cater to any conceivable application for vehicles one-tonne and below. This would also involve launching a quadricycle towards the end of 2004," Mr Ravi Chopra, Managing Director, told Business Line. Meanwhile, the company intends to launch CNG/LPG powered three-wheelers in the Indian market this year. "The CNG/LPG powered three-wheelers will be launched before the end of the current calendar year in both the cargo and passenger segments. It will not require much investment since we already make three-wheelers; the current engine would be converted into a CNG/LPG-based powertrain," he said. The Bharat II-compliant vehicles, apart from the domestic market, would also be exported primarily to other markets in the sub-continent such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Piaggio is betting heavily on exports to account for a substantial chunk of sales in the future. "There is huge potential for exports, but due to capacity constraints we have largely been catering to domestic demand. However, we expect exports to account for at least 20 per cent of our sales in three years," Mr Chopra said. The company is eyeing sales of 50,000 units in 2003, which would represent a growth of about 40 per cent over last year. On whether it intends to enter the two-wheeler segment, Mr Chopra refused to give any concrete details but said that the option was open for the parent company. Piaggio had exited a two-wheeler manufacturing joint venture with LML a few years ago after a dispute over management. Piaggio Vehicles became a fully-owned subsidiary of the Italy-based Piaggio group after it bought out Greaves Ltd's 49 per cent in the earlier joint venture.
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