The Hindu Business Line : NTF plans car styling kits sales by year-end

NTF's styling kit
It is a five-part set including front and rear bumpers, side stats, and a spoiler or an under-spoiler
It would look to position the product in the after-sales market, through distributors

Chennai , Oct. 5

NTF India, which makes composites for automobiles, plans to start sales of car styling kits by the year-end, according to Mr J.S. Khurana, NTF's General Manager - Marketing Automotive.

Mr Khurana, who was in Chennai recently to talk to automobile manufacturers, said that NTF hopes to generate a Rs 25 crore business over the next two years from car styling kits, a market share of 15 per cent.

New variants

Maruti has given NTF a firm order for two of its models. The shipment would form a part of Maruti's accessories business, he said. The company is in talks with car manufacturers for introducing new variants equipped with the styling kits, accessories that give the cars a `sporty' look, for different car models such as Honda City, Suzuki's Alto and Swift, and the Toyota Innova. Two or three other companies have also shown interest.

A survey conducted by the company with Market Development and Research Associates of the CMR (Computing, Marketing and Research) group revealed that about 80,000 car styling kits could be sold without any marketing effort to supplement it. This in itself represents sales of Rs 160 crore. But judging by more evolved markets such as Singapore, the market potential for car styling kits is about Rs 1,400 crore, according to Mr Khurana.

The calculation is based on a comparison of car styling kits in Singapore with the existing market for automobiles in India. Since the projection is based on units sold this year in India (1.5 million cars) the demand is lsikely to go up as the years go by, he added.

The company, which showcased its car styling kit during the 8th Auto Expo last January in New Delhi, will start rolling out sales of the same by the end of the year from the Rs 9 crore facility in Gurgaon that it has set up exclusively for car styling kits. The company's main business is making composites for cars, tractors, locomotives, medical and defence.

Mr Khurana explained that NTF's kit is a five-part set including front and rear bumpers, side stats, and a spoiler or an under-spoiler.

Apart from directly selling to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), the company would look to position the product in the after-sales market, through distributors. It has already appointed State-wise distributors, who would handle localised advertising, he said.

The strategy would be to position the product as technology-intensive. The base material of the product is Polyurethane, which is lighter and more durable than fibreglass, which is the popular technology in this market in India.

He said that in addition it is more impact resistant.

The design comes from Mr Somchai, a teacher of styling at the University of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, who does similar freelance work with some Japanese companies, and has 20 to 25 years of experience in styling-related capacities with Toyota and Suzuki.

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