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Premier, one of India's oldest car companies, is stepping on the gas to spread the presence of its Rio compact SUV which was first launched two years ago.
“Unlike other carmakers, we were re-entering the market after nearly a decade. It was the beginning of a process of rolling out the product and focusing on allied functions like vendors, dealers, etc,” Mr Maitreya Doshi, Chairman and Managing Director, told Business Line .
It took the company nearly eight months to incorporate changes, largely relating to interiors and colour changes, based on customer feedback. Around this time, its Chinese partner, Zotye, was getting ready with the facelift version. A new production line had to be set up in the Pune plant and two years went by in the process.
Big facelift
“We are now back in a higher gear and ramping up numbers. The Rio is now a far improved product with a fabulous facelift. There is a petrol version for Euro-4 regions and a Euro-3 diesel. The Euro-4 common rail diesel will be ready in a couple of months,” Mr Doshi said.
Premier has set itself a sales target of 8,000 units annually while its Pune plant has a capacity which is three times as much. Plans are on to increase the dealerships to 90 by June.
According to Mr Doshi, the Rio is for someone who wants to be different but only has a budget of Rs 5-lakh. While he has the option of accessing a small car range from the stables of Maruti or Hyundai, the Rio is in a different space altogether.
“We have pioneered a new segment in compact SUVs. For the moment, SUVs account for barely 15 per cent of the car market but this number will grow. I personally feel that once major players like Ford and M&M enter this segment, it will expand,” he said.
This is precisely what happened in the compact car space which at one point only had Maruti as the monarch of all it surveyed. As other big names threw their hats into the ring, the segment grew in the process.
“I believe the Rio is ideally suited for beautiful highways and rugged village roads. This product is the best bet for both Bharat and India,” Mr Doshi said.
Premier's priority at this point is to ‘deliver on the Rio promise' while meeting all aspects of customer service. The company is aware that there is a lot of work ahead in a market which is getting increasingly demanding.
“Once the growth curve is established, we can look at other RHD (right-hand-drive) markets too. This Rio can go anywhere but let us plan this step-by-step,” he said.
Key partnership
The partnership with Zotye has been a key part of Premier's comeback story in the auto space. Terming it a ‘fascinating company', Mr Doshi says the Chinese ally has been right up there in its product engineering skills, agility and being responsive to Premier's needs. Asked if any equity tie-up is in the offing, pat comes the reply, “When we are soul-mates, why do we need to be married?”
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