Piaggio Vehicles, which manufactures small commercial vehicles, has rolled out its CNG, water-cooled 395cc engine vehicle range for the Patna, Bihar market. They include the Ape’ Auto DX, the six-foot cargo deck Ape’ Xtra LDX+ and the Ape’ Xtra LDX.

The introduction of the new range of CNG vehicles is a strategic initiative from Piaggio to mobility solutions in the last-mile transportation segment for its customers in Bihar. The new CNG Ape’ Auto DX Passenger and Ape’ Xtra LDX and Ape’ Xtra LDX+ are claimed to offer best-in- class performance in terms of power, pick-up, mileage and maintenance. With the new CNG vehicle range, running costs will be substantially lower than regular three-wheelers and will help meet the growing demand for commercial vehicle mobility solutions particularly suited to intra-city travel in Bihar.

According to Saju Nair, EVP and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Business, Piaggio India, “Alternate fuel technology is growing day by day in India and hence to cater to the market’s changing needs we have introduced this new range of CNG vehicles for the Bihar market. Piaggio is the market leader in the three-wheeler category in Bihar and with this new range of vehicles we are confident of maintaining and further strengthening our leadership in the CNG segment as well. For the Bihar market, we have designed a special exchange scheme for old petrol and diesel autorickshaws which have completed their legal age.”

Malind Kapur, senior vice-president, Marketing and Channel Development, Piaggio Vehicles said, “I would like to thank the government for their emphasis on alternate fuels in Patna. Setting up of CNG stations in Patna under the Urja Ganga project will further strengthen the small commercial vehicle industry in Bihar. We also have tie-ups with nationalised banks for the benefit of our customers. With this CNG infrastructure, a number of three-wheelers will now adopt and convert to CNG in a big way in Patna and I see many new opportunities for us in the coming future.”

Piaggio has a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant at Baramati in Maharashtra, with an installed annual production capacity of over 300,000 three-wheelers and 80,000 four-wheelers.