A year after dissolving the joint venture with MAN, Force Motors is not so much exploring options in the heavy commercial vehicle segment. However, the company is looking at the other end of the spectrum – the SCV (small commercial vehicle) segment. The seemingly ceaseless demand for such mini-trucks even as there is a slowdown in other segments, is a positive. Besides, with farm mechanisation improving, Force is also realigning its marketing efforts to regain lost ground in tractor sales.

Business Line caught up with Naresh Kumar Rattan, COO and President, at the launch of the new ‘Traveller’ in Bangalore.

Excerpts:

Why does Force not have a presence in the fast growing small commercial vehicle segment?

In this segment, Force used to be a dominant player. We had the Minidor three-wheeler. We had the Trump 15. But their production has been discontinued. There are basically three segments — .5 tonne payload, up to 1 tonnes and up to 1.5 tonnes. In the 1-1.5 tonne, we now have Trump 40. But yes, the other categories are growing and we do not have a product there. But they are also evolved. When the MAN joint venture was on, the company had priorities for a different segment. Now, these categories are under consideration. How are you placed in the passenger segment vehicles?

In the passenger LCV segment, we are market leaders by virtue of the ‘Traveller’ in the sub-3.5 tonne category. The competitors here are typically vehicles such as the Tata Winger. But we dominate the market with more than 50 per cent share. Now, we have introduced a new ‘Traveller’ which is in the ‘more than 3.5 ton’ category with 26 seats. However, in this category, competitive buses are built on truck chassis. Ours is built on monocoque. Because of this, the vehicle is lighter and power is higher. We have 15 per cent more mileage – 9 km per litre on highway and 8 km in the city.

As far as our utility vehicle Force One is concerned, we are going to come with a 4*4 variant. We may also come up with a basic version of the Force One.

After two years, tractor sales have slowed in the last few months. How has it been for you?

Historically, we produced technologically superior tractors. But somehow the JV with MAN took a toll on this also. We went down to about 600 tractors in 2009-10. It was slightly better in 2010-11, where we sold 1,000. This year, we have sold about 1,700 until recently. We expect to touch 3,000. Our market share is less than one per cent. We are not selling pan-India but only in seven States including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, MP and Tamil Nadu. First, we need to apologise to customers who had bought in the past and whom we haven’t been able to serve well. So we are concentrating on services. The industry is going down. But we are going up. It’s more of a rebuilding of the brand.

So what are the other efforts to rebuild the brand?

First of all, we need to set up the right organisation internally, focus only in limited areas and not expand much. Second is customer connectivity. Either running repairs or support, we are training mechanics in each area. So rebuilding the confidence of customers is the second step. Third, build our network only in this focus area. We want to expand our network this financial year. That will be only in these seven States.

What trends do you see in the tractor industry currently?

India is a market for smaller HP tractors, that is, tractors below 50HP. Majority of the business is in the 30-40 HP segment.

Nevertheless, the market for the upper variants have started growing. Also, tractorisation is growing. This means, you need products for preparing the seed bed before the sowing of the crop, for seeding and third, harvesting.

In that, tractors are mainly used in seed bed preparation and transportation. Some tractors are used for crushing, and so on. But use for seed bed preparation has still not caught up in India.

vardhini.c@thehindu.co.in

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