Isuzu Motors, which entered India in August 2012, said the company was looking at customers who are seeking a global experience in the pick-up range.

The company has opened outlets in the South to attract people who have returned from the Gulf, and is getting good response from customers, senior officials at Isuzu Motors India told Business Line .

“There are an increasing number of customers who want to experience our products and that is a good chance for us to provide such global products,” Takashi Kikuchi, Managing Director, Isuzu Motors India, said on the sidelines of the launch of its D-Max pick-up truck in Gurgaon.

He added that many customers have test-driven Isuzu’s vehicles. Several clients who have come back from the Gulf and started businesses in India, have driven such pick-ups when abroad.

“For example, there is a vegetable businessman in Coimbatore who is himself is driving our pick-up truck to supply produce to customers. Such people, who were driving Indian pick-up trucks and were hesitant sometimes, are now driving our vehicles with pride because of the global look,” he said.

A similar trend is being observed in the northern part of the country as well and, therefore, the region will be one of the focus areas for the company, said Kikuchi, adding that such customers would drive the market for the company.

Wheel power

Since January, the company has imported around 200 vehicles, which were all sold. The company plans to sell around 5,000 units by March 2015.

Till now, Isuzu has opened eight dealerships in the South (Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Madurai, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Kochi) and one in Mumbai. With its tenth outlet in Gurgaon, the company will also expand its network in north India by March 2015 in places such as Noida, Jaipur and Ludhiana, and will further expand to Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Lucknow, Kanpur and Udaipur towards the end of next year. The company aims to open 60 outlets across India by the end of 2015-16, Kikuchi said. Headquartered in Chennai, Isuzu Motors India at present has a contract manufacturing agreement with Hindustan Motors, under which it is assembling completely knocked- down kits of Isuzu’s sports utility vehicle MU-7 and pick-up truck D-Max, at its Thiruvallur plant, near Chennai.

The company will make around 300 units a month right now and once it starts its plant at Chitoor (Andhra Pradesh) by 2016, it will make around 50,000 units a year, scaling up eventually to 1.20 lakh units annually.

It is investing ₹3,000 crore in this facility and is expected to generate around 3,000 jobs.

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