New Delhi: Automaker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Tuesday said that while the industry is expected to grow at 7-8% for the light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment in FY 2023-24, the company “should be able to grow more than the industry.”
The maker of Bolero pik-ups has planned to fully utilise its annual production capacity of over 2 lakh units for its cargo LCVs in the 2-3.5 tonne payload category. Apart from macroeconomic factors, it does not fathom any major challenges to meet its future targets in this segment. The company said semiconductor chip shortage has not impacted it in this category to the extent of affecting the production.
Baneswar Banerjee, VP and National Sales, Head-Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “Our current monthly production capacity is 17,500 units for LCVs in the 2-3.5 tonnes category. Out of this, CNG will occupy 1000-1500 volumes.”
“This is definitely going to increase in due course,” he said, without sharing further details.
Last year in August, the company rolled out the first product Bolero MaXX Pik-Up, built on the new platform MaXX, with better performance and telematics solutions. The 3-tonne (gross vehicle weight) pickup, with a payload capacity of 1,300 kg was launched in the range of INR 7.68-7.87 lakh (ex-showroom, India) for intra-city applications.
On Tuesday, the company launched its complete range, starting at INR 7.85 lakh and going up to INR 10.33 lakh (ex-showroom, India). Now, it offers a total of 8 new models on this platform, available in two series – HD series (HD 2.0L, 1.7L and 1.7, 1.3) and City series (City 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 and City CNG).
Mahindra manufactures the Bolero Pik-Up on the MaXX platform at its Kandivali, Maharashtra and Chakan, Pune plant. About 60% of its consumers are captive buyers.
Currently, Mahindra occupies a share of 59.73% in the 2-3.5 tonne cargo LCV category. Its domestic sales stood at 1.98 lakh units for FY 2022-23, up 42.9% from 1.38 lakh units in FY 2021-22. Last year, it was near full utilization of the production capacity.
Source: SIAM
The newly launched range of Bolero MaXX Pik-Up has varying power and torque nodes of 52.2kW/200Nm and 59.7kW/220Nm. It is powered by m2Di engine with diesel and CNG options for City variant and only diesel option for the HD variant.
“We will soon launch the HD variant in CNG,” Banerjee said, without sharing a specific timeline.
In the less than 2 tonne segment, Mahindra sales stood at 40,419 units in 2022-23, grabbing a share of 20.9% in this category. Tata Motors with its Ace is the market leader and occupies a share of 59.3%.
Overall, in the less than 3.5 tonne segment, the industry recorded 5.24 lakh units during FY 2022-23. Here, Mahindra’s share stands at about 45.4%.
Now, every Bolero Pik-Up model is built on the Maxx platform, except the Bolero Classic range, Camper and 4×4 wheel.
Mahindra said it has sold over 20 lakh pik-up units since the brand was first launched in 1999.
As of now, the company is planning to grow with diesel and CNG powertrains. It did not share any near-term plans to enter alternative fuels or electric vehicles (EVs) as an option in this category.
