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Eicher Polaris, which manufactures and markets personal utility vehicle ‘Multix’, will begin exporting the product to Nepal and Bangladesh this month.
Following the rising demand for Multix since its launch in June 2015, the company is increasing its footprint into the metros and states by adding more dealers.
It had also launched two BS-IV variants in March this year with a higher engine capacity of 650 cc. The first vehicle comes with a 500-cc BS-III engine.
“We have already shipped a few units to Nepal. The commercial sales in the Himalayan nation will begin from this week. We also have orders from Bangladesh. Shipping will start from the second week of this month,” Pankaj Duney, Chief Executive and Managing Director of Eicher Polaris, told PTI over phone.
He said they are also tapping the Central American (Guatemala to begin with), African and Sri Lankan markets.
On domestic expansion, Duney said though sales so far have been slower than expected as the company's focus had been on small towns, this year the sales is growing at over 20 per cent over last year. But citing company’s policy, he refused to quantify the numbers.
Asked about the new model development, he said they are working on two-three new models, but refused to share the details and timelines.
On dealership expansion, he said they will almost double the count to 100 this year. The year started off with 55 and has now gone up to 77, with the latest dealership coming up at Karad in Maharashtra last week.
“We are present in 16 states now but will cover all the states by the year-end, with almost 100 dealers,” he said, adding that going forward the focus will be on metros too. The company already entered Delhi and Mumbai this year.
Eicher Polaris is an equal joint venture set up in 2013 between the Delhi-based Eicher Motors and the US-based Polaris Industries Inc, which is a globe leader in all-terrain vehicles. The US firm also runs a separate company in the country, Polaris India, which sells its all-terrain vehicles.
The joint venture has made a Rs 350-crore investment, equally chipped in the partners to manufacture Multix, and a 60,000-unit per annum plant at Kukas near Jaipur.
He said the company is sourcing almost fully locally helping it sell at lower prices. The new Multix variants are priced between Rs 3.19 lakh and Rs 3.49 lakh.
Duney also said that GST will have a neutral impact on the company’s business.
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