Partner Channels: Bill Pay | Health | IT Education | Jobs | Technology | Travel
June 21, 2001
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Channels: Astrology | Broadband | Contests | E-cards | Money | Movies | Romance | Search | Wedding | Women Partner Channels: Bill Pay | Health | IT Education | Jobs | Technology | Travel |
||
|
|
||
|
Home >
Money > Reuters > Report June 21, 2001 |
Feedback
|
|
|
Hindustan Motors sees good MUV salesIndia's Hindustan Motors Ltd expects sales of its new RTV range of multi-utility vehicles to cross the Rs 1.0 billion ($21.28-million) mark in the year to March 2002, a senior firm official said on Thursday. B S Khargonkar, Hindustan Motors' vice-president at the Pithampur plant where the RTV is made, told a news conference that the firm planned to sell 3,200 vehicles in 2001-2002. "We already have 900 bookings for the vehicle in Delhi for school bus and staff bus applications and our aim is to reach the 750 to 1,000 vehicles a month output level, from the current 500 vehicles, in a year's time," Khargonkar said. One of India's oldest surviving automobile makers, Hindustan Motors' main product is the 1950s vintage Ambassador, a retro grand coupe used extensively by government officials and taxi operators across the country. The firm, which also has a technical tie-up with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors to assemble and sell Mitsubishi's Lancer sedan, sourced the design inputs for the RTV from Australia's OKA Motors a couple of years ago. The firm, which originally intended to sell the Australian-designed multi-utility vehicle to farmers and industries operating in the rural hinterland, found few takers for the tall and unconventional looking RTV. "After extensive customer surveys we have decided to target the urban transportation segment with our RTV instead of the rural market we had initially envisaged," Khargonkar said. The firm is offering several variants of the diesel or CNG (compressed natural gas) powered vehicle for passenger, ambulance and cargo applications. Hindustan Motors is also eyeing South Asian markets for exporting the RTV and has already shipped over 40 vehicles to Bangladesh, Khargonkar added. "At our introductory price of just over Rs 360,000 ($7,661) for the passenger variant we feel there is really no competition for this product which incorporates safety and riding comfort with ease and economy of operation," he said. Hindustan Motors' shares ended almost unchanged at Rs 4.2 on Thursday.
|
||||||
