Heavy commercial truck-maker Asia Motor Works (AMW) is expected to launch its first luxury bus in fourth quarter, which is likely to drive competition in the segment, mainly dominated by overseas players.

“The luxury bus is likely to hit the road in the January-March quarter,” AMW Managing Director Mr Aniruddh Bhuwalka told PTI here.

The company was to launch the vehicle in September, as announced at Auto Expo 2012 in January.

The 1,000 unit-a-year high-end luxury bus market is still in nascent stage, growing almost at 10-15 per cent annually and dominated by players such Volvo, Merc, Mr Bhuwalka said, adding that AMW, India’s youngest commercial truck-maker, would strife to corner a decent pie out of this volume.

Not disclosing the price, he said it will be much cheaper than Volvo or Merc which are priced at Rs 1 crore.

“The pricing will be in line with our philosophy of providing world class product at a competitive price.”

While AMW trucks, all of which have AC cabins, the first in the country, are priced 15-20 per cent above Tata and Leyland, but they are over 50 per cent cheaper than Volvo.

The city-based auto-maker, which has its manufacturing facility at Bhuj in Gujarat, also plans to roll out 6-8 models this fiscal as a step further to enhance its market share.

“This year we are planning to roll out anywhere between six to eight products. Of it majority would be variants of the existing products,” Mr Bhuwalka said.

AMW’s overall market share stands at 6 per cent and 25 per cent in mining and construction equipment, respectively.

Currently, exporting its trucks to SAARC region, AMW is readying for newer markets like Middle East and North African region with its new generation products, he said.

Last fiscal, AMW sold 10,000 trucks growing by over 50 per cent as against a market growth of 8 per cent, Mr Bhuwalka said, adding the robust growth came on the back of new products it launched and its foray into a 16-tonne category.

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