Mahindra Navistar, the 51:49 joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra and Navistar of the US, has straightaway attacked the meatiest territory of the Indian commercial vehicle market with its first truck – the MN 25. At Rs 14.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Pune), the MN 25 is priced aggressively compared to its peers from Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles which are available in the Rs 14-16 lakh range. Sales of the MN25 will start by September.

The company’s new plant at Chakan, Pune, currently rolls out six to eight trucks a day. Given the market potential, Mahindra Navistar doesn’t expect too long a time before hitting peak capacity. Rakesh Kalra, managing director, Mahindra Navistar, says: “The full capacity that we are talking about is 50,000 units in this plant. We might reach there in two to three years’ time.” By the end of this fiscal, Mahindra Navistar plans to roll out multiple models to fill all segments of up to 49 tonnes in the market. As the joint venture works around the clock to prepare those products, the American partner is also ramping up sourcing of components through it.

Navistar will source components worth 10 million US$ from India during this year. Sourcing is only part of the Indo-American JV’s three-pronged strategy. Manufacturing and selling CVs is the bigger part of the play.

“We designed a cab-forward version for the world and domestic markets, which Navistar doesn’t have. Secondly, we do some engineering services for them because when they sleep, we work so that we can enhance/shorten product development cycle for them. And the third one was sourcing components for them. All the three things are going on,” says Kalra. n