Exclusive! Isuzu may roll out new model in India by 2016

Isuzu Motors India, the latest entrant in India’s pick-up truck market with its D-Max, expects to add one more model in 2-3 years' time. The new model is learnt to be under be under development in Japan and Thailand currently. Autocar Professional learns from a top source that the new model will be based on the popular D-Max platform.

Shigeru Wakabayashi, deputy MD, Isuzu Motors India, did not comment on plans for a new model for India but said Isuzu will not go lower than the newly launched D-Max single cab, in terms of price positioning. “We would like to keep our position a little higher than the products from Indian OEMs,” says Wakabayashi.

Isuzu’s sole SUV model in India, the MU7, is also based on the D-Max platform. The new model is expected to be manufactured at Isuzu’s upcoming plant in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, slated for commissioning by 2016.

Aggressive Pricing Strategy

Isuzu's ‘launch price’ for the D-Max range, which was launched in Mumbai on May 13, is Rs 599,000 (ex-showroom, Mumbai). The vehicle will be available in two more variants – space cab with a flat deck (Rs 6.19 lakh) and space cab with an arched deck (Rs 709,000). It will compete with the likes of Mahindra’s Genio and Tata’s Xenon. The Japanese OEM is also considering launching a twin-cab version of the D-Max in India.

Isuzu began assembling its models at Hindustan Motors’ Chennai plant in December last year and has set a target of 5,000-6,000 vehicles (2,000 units of the MU7, 3,000 units of D-Max) a month. Currently, the HM plant can assemble 500 units (MU7: 200, D-Max: 300) per month. The initial annual production capacity of its Andhra Pradesh plant will be 50,000 units, scalable to 120,000 units. Vehicles made here will also be exported to other emerging markets, says Takashi Kikuchi, MD, Isuzu Motors India.

The D-Max has been a hit in Thailand, the world’s second largest pick-up truck market, after the US, where it has the No. 2 slot. Isuzu hopes to achieve something similar in India, which it forecasts will be the world’s largest pick-up truck market. “In India, the pick-up truck segment is one of the largest and fastest growing segments in CVs, accounting for 35 percent of the total CV market. We estimate India to be the world’s largest one-tonner pick-up truck market by 2023,” says Kikuchi.

Last year, India’s pick-up truck market clocked sales of 200,000 units, or 10 percent of the global pick-up market. Isuzu expects India to see annual sales of 800,000 pick-up trucks a year, or 20 percent of the projected figure of four million pick-up trucks in the global industry volume. “There are three key trends that will drive the Indian pickup truck market – increase of purchasing power of small and medium businesses, the need to ferry more goods over longer distances in lesser time and multi-purpose usage,” says Wakabayashi.

Photograph (L-R): Isuzu Motors India's deputy managing director Shigeru Wakabayashi and managing director Takashi Kikuchi at the launch of the made-in-India D-Max in Mumbai on May 12.