Tvs To Launch Mopeds, 4-Stroke Scoterettes In 02

Two-wheeler major TVS Motor Company plans to introduce four-stroke scooterettes and mopeds during the next financial year even as its moped sales are expected to drop by around 25 per cent during the current fiscal year.

"We want to have a product in each of the ungeared range," TVS Motor Company general manager for marketing Venkat Subramaniam said.

Subramaniam said moped sales are expected to drop by around 25 per cent compared with last year because of factors like poor economic growth in the country which has hindered growth of small businesses, rumours of Chinese dumping two-wheelers into the country and the commuters' preference for geared vehicles.

"The moped industry itself has shown a decline and may end up with nearly a 30 per cent decline in sales this fiscal year," Subramaniam said.

Subramaniam said Scooty has a market share of around 67 per cent and its share in the ungeared segment was around 38 per cent. Scooty was expected to sell around 150,000 during the current fiscal compared with 140,000 during last year. "The growth will beat the industry average," he said.

The new four-stroke scooterettes are expected to be launched during the first quarter of the next fiscal year and will be manufactured at TVS' Mysore plant. The two-stroke Scooty costs around Rs 28,000 and gives an average of 45 km per litre. The four-stroke mopeds, first of its kind in the country, will be launched during the second quarter of the next fiscal year.

Nearly 55 per cent of TVS sales revenue comes from motorcycle segment, 15 per cent from scooterettes, 7 per cent from spare parts and the rest from mopeds segment. It has a total of over 5 million customers nationwide.

TVS is also focussing aggressively on value engineering and cost reduction measures with costs being managed systematically covering both fixed and variable costs.

Its subsystem wise material cost reduction, `just in time' and total productivity implementation which are the focus areas for 2001-02 are expected to improve efficiency and productivity of the plants.

Some of the other TVS-Suzuki's brands include, 150 cc Fiero, Samurai and Max. Fiero is the largest selling motorcycle in its segment. TVS recently broke away from its joint venture partnership with Suzuki and bought over the entire stake of around 26 per cent.