Hind Motors Dares Mahindra With Soft-Top Pushpak
Hindustan Motors (HM), the CK Birla group flagship, is planning to challenge Mahindra & Mahindra's (M&M) dominance in the utility vehicle market through a national rollout of a new soft-top model, Pushpak, priced at Rs 3.5 lakh, within six months.
HM, plagued by dropping sales of the Ambassador and the Mitsubishi Lancer, plans to turn on the heat in the segment with new launches. It has also lined up for launch a hard-top utility vehicle in the first quarter of 2002-03.
GL Reddy, vice-president (marketing) said, "We are offering the Pushpak as an alternative to M&M's soft-top offerings, and are targeting a 20 per cent market share in the first year of launch. In the first quarter of next fiscal, we will be launching a new hard-top vehicle based on the same platform."
Both the soft-top and hard-top versions will have common mechanical parts with the Ambassador, the company's popular passenger car whose sales have been dipping over the last few months.
During the first year of Pushpak's launch, HM is targeting a 20 per cent share in the soft-top segment, which roughly translates into 4,000-5,000 soft-tops a year. Pushpak, which comes with a 2-litre Isuzu diesel option, is currently being offered only in Kerala.
Reddy said that as there are many parts common between the Ambassador and the Pushpak, it will logically drive down the spares' cost. The low initial and operating costs are the other advantages, he said.
Hindustan Motors will be targeting government institutions, traditionally large customers for its products, as well as commercial travel operators for the Pushpak, which is being manufactured at its Uttarpada plant near Kolkata. Reddy said that the company is utilising its existing facilities and has not incurred any fresh investments at the plant.
Pushpak's launch coincides with a sharp slide in sales volumes in the soft-top market, in which Mahindra & Mahindra has a lion's share. This is largely due to a ban imposed on these vehicles by Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana for safety reasons.