Mahindra Group subsidiary Mahindra Trucks and Buses Ltd plans to enter the intermediate commercial vehicle (ICV) segment and said it will invest Rs 500 crore to develop new product lines as well as refurbish its existing products, the current slowdown notwithstanding.
“We are well placed on heavy commercial vehicles today, a little behind on LCV range and the ICV segment is missing,” Rajan Wadehra, Director, Mahindra Trucks, said. Over the next 18-20 months, the company will invest Rs 300 crore to develop a new ICV and an added Rs 200 crore on refurbishing its present range of light commercial vehicles, he added.
The new ICV will be a “ground-up” vehicle that will be entirely developed in-house and is expected to be ready in the next 30 months. The aggregates will not take too much time to develop as major components such as axles and engine types are already available within the Group.
Though with Navistar’s exit, the Mahindra-Navistar partnership for trucks no longer exists, the IP of the current truck is with them, Wadhera said, pointing out that the truck eco-system in India was also fairly well developed.
At the forthcoming Delhi Auto Expo, MTBL will showcase two products that will add to its current HCV range. The 37-tonne multi-axle truck Truxo 37 will go into production immediately while the tractor trailer Traco 49 which will be seen in two variants – 210 HP and 260 HP engines - will be launched a little later, Nalin Mehta, MD and CEO, said.
The other products on display will be a Torro 25, a tipper with 9-speed transmission and bogie suspension, a containerized variant of its Loadking LCV and a new Tourister Cosmo Bus.