The Hindu Business Line : With a clutch of new products, TVS expects a better Q4

Chennai, Dec. 13 TVS Motor Company is confident that the slide in its sales would be arrested, thanks to a slew of product launches that are happening now. (Today, the company launched the new 125-cc motorbike TVS Flame that costs Rs 45,000, ex-showroom, Chennai, or around Rs 50,000 on the road.)

TVS Motor’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Venu Srinivasan, on Thursday said that the company would also launch a variant of the entry-level StaR City (“StaR Sport”) and an all-new bike in the ‘executive’ segment.

From January, the company expects to sell 20,000 vehicles of Flame and 10,000 of StaR Sport. In the January-March quarter, the company expects to sell 75,000 motorcycles a month. The target is only marginally higher than the achievement in the corresponding period last year (average of 73,188 vehicles). However, it is higher than the performance in the second quarter, when the monthly average was 48,227 units, compared to 86,107 units in the second quarter of last year.

Mr Venu Srinivasan observed that the tight availability of finance, especially for purchases in the entry-level segment, hit the company’s sales. But now that the company has plugged gaps in its product portfolio, sales would pick up, he said.

Asked why TVS Motor had left gaps in its product range, he said that the company’s focus on investments in quality took its attention away from new products. Now, TVS Motor has the least number of warranty claims among all two-wheeler companies, he said.

TVS Flame

The uniqueness of TVS Flame, it was explained at the press conference, is that it has three valves, instead of two. One valve operates at lower vehicle speeds and the other two do at high speeds. Because of this, the bike uses less fuel, while not compromising on power. The ‘controlled combustion variable timing intelligent’ (CC-V Ti) engine developed in collaboration with AVL of Austria enables it to give a mileage of 82 kmpl, he said.

TVS Flame comes in two variants — drum brakes and disc brakes. The disc brake variant would cost around Rs 3,000 more. The national launch of the product will take place in January. At present, the company is selling small numbers in Chennai.

TVS Motor will also formally launch its three-wheeler vehicle in January. In the first full year of operations, it expects to sell 40,000 units.