3-way struggle in UP passenger vehicle market

A three-way fight is taking place for the capture of the passenger vehicle market in Uttar Pradesh.

The Scooters India product, Vikram, which had a near-monopoly in the segment, was challenged by new Kanpur-based company JS Auto, which had been an ancillary of LML. JS Auto was able to capture a chunk of the market.

Bajaj Auto's autorickshaw was the third competitor. The Bajaj entry was possible due to the approaching CNG vehicle conversion time limit. Vikram was able to supply 350-400 vehicles and JS Auto 150-200 CNG vehicles but the market wanted more before the deadline set by the government.

Bajaj Auto is a 150 cc autorickshaw and has a seating capacity of 2+1 while both JSA and Vikram have a 6+1 seating capacity. However, since Bajaj costs about Rs 75,000 less than the other two and the vehicle on the passenger route is always overloaded, it has thrown a challenge to both JSA and Vikram.

"Till there are no restrictions on overloading, there is no way we can counter the competition from Bajaj's autorickshaw," said Pradeep Puri, director, JS Auto.

To meet the challenge, JS Auto is planning to manufacture a three-wheeler passenger vehicle of 410 cc displacement capacity. This idea came from Piaggio, which had caused a flutter by selling about 15,000 non-diesel vehicles of 410 cc per month.

Once we are able to launch this vehicle, says Puri, we shall be able to compete with Bajaj. However, the company proposes to launch the vehicle only in October-November 2007.

JSA had a turnover of Rs 35 crore last year, which it was dissatisfied with. The rough estimate for this year is Rs 50 crore.