Hm Unveils Rural Transport Vehicle

The CK Birla flagship Hindustan Motors today unveiled its rural transport vehicle (RTV) in the country manufactured under the collaboration with Australia-based OKA Motor Company.

The rural transport vehicle is a multi-purpose, rough terrain, forward control, rear wheel drive, heavy duty vehicle designed by OKA, one of the world leaders in high performance, rugged speciality vehicles.

It is fitted with a 2 litre, 56 horse-power diesel engine.

The vehicle is expected to be priced between Rs 3 to 3.5 lakh. The price-range was one of the parameters laid down by Hindustan Motors in its brief to OKA for designing the technical specs of the vehicle.

 

The vehicle, aimed primarily at the rural segment, is expected to hit the domestic market in April 1998, said A Sankara Narayanan, executive director of Hindustan Motors.

The company expects sales of 7000 vehicles in the first year of sales.

Hindustan Motors has invested a total of Rs 40 crore in the entire rural transport vehicle project.

The vehicles will be built at an assembly plant at Indore. The company plans to tap the export markets after three years.

At a press briefing, Mike Walker, the group chief executive officer of OKA Motor said that the rural transport vehicle was developed as per the specifications of the Indian company. "We are also looking to transfer of the productionprocess to Hindustan Motors" he added.

UNI adds: The 98 per cent indigenous RTV is the world's first purpose designed vehicle. ''The only company we came across that had expertise to design such a product and a flexible manufacturing system which met our targeted cost was the OKA motor company,''said Sankara Narayanan.

Extensive studies by the Birla group of companies which led the passenger car industry showed while there are vehicles operating in the rural areas, they were not designed for the usage and road conditions of rural India. They lacked the ability to reach deep into the interiors. In effect, they were not ''customer up'' designs.

''The RTV will open up a whole new market of five lakh villages in rural India,'' Narayanan said. ''This is only the beginning of the revolution that will change the face of transportation in rural India.''