VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV), the joint venture between the Volvo Group and Eicher Motors, says it expects to cross 40,000 unit sales in 2014. Speaking to Autocar Professional today in Bangalore, Shyam Maller, senior VP (Sales and Marketing), VECV, said the company expects to outperform the industry growth in the CV sector this year.

In 2013, he said the company sold around 37,000 units in the domestic market and exported around 3,300 units. This year the company expects to maintain the same level of sales or maybe achieve a little more growth.

The Indian heavy duty vehicle market recorded a sales decline of 3 percent in the first six months of 2014. But following the installation of a stable government, a new focus on infrastructure development, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) showing positive signals and inflation slowing down, M&HCVs sales are expected to move up.

As per SIAM industry data, in June 2014, VECV sold a total of 4,187 units, domestic and exports put together (June 2013: 3,302), which represents a growth of 26.8 percent year on year. In the domestic market, the CV maker sold 3,474 vehicles, up 12.43 percent over sales a year ago (June 2013: 3,090). Q1 FY2015 (April-June 2014) sales are 9,329 units, down 9.81 percent YoY. On the export front, VECV shipped 713 units in June 2014, representing a growth of 236 percent YoY, and in Q1, FY2015, its exports totaled 1,977 units, a growth of 251 percent. 

Last year, the heavy duty vehicle sector accounted for around 6,000 units in VECV’s total sales. Given the current trend and improved market sentiment, Maller said the heavy duty vehicle sector is expected to drive the company’s growth in 2014. Between January to June this year, the company has sold around 21,000 units spanning the 5- to 49-tonne range.

Maller was in Bangalore today to launch the company’s new-generation light and medium duty trucks – the Eicher Pro 1000 and Pro 3000 – for the Karnataka market. These Pro Series trucks comes in the 5-14-tonne capacity range and were first launched in March this year in Mumbai. Since then, the company has sold 600 units of the Pro 1000 and 3000 trucks combined.

While the Eicher Pro 1000 series is a new, enhanced range of light and medium duty trucks in the 5-14-tonne segment, the Pro 3000 series 9-14-tonne trucks are designed for the emerging premium truck segment which calls for a high power and torque combination. Maller said, “The Eicher Pro range, representing the future of Indian trucking, has been developed and manufactured as a result of the synergistic working between the Volvo Group and Eicher.”

In the next few months, VECV plans to launch the Pro 6000 in the 16-40-tonne segment and Pro 8000 in 25-49T segment in the months to come. The company has already supplied a few Pro 6000s in Gujarat and Haryana and plans for roll across various regions in phases. The Pro 8000 will be launched in September this year.

Karnataka contributed to seven percent of VECV’s sales in 2013. In the light and medium duty vehicle market in Karnataka, the company has a 39 percent market share and a 22 percent share in the bus segment. “Going forward, we see good growth in the Karnataka market following the mining industry getting a green signal and the government mines starting operations. In Goa too, the government has lifted the ban on mining. This is expected to add business in the heavy duty vehicle segment for VECV,” said Maller.