JOIN USVE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) has expressed its resolve to grow its market share in Karnataka, on the back of strong orders received from the state transport undertakings (STUs) here.
VECV — a JV between Volvo Group and Eicher Motors — has bagged orders from the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) to the tune of 1,229 buses in the 15-tonne heavy-duty (HD) category.
“We will be delivering the BMTC and KSRTC orders this year, and the next. A few of these buses include BSIV vehicles, apart from BSIII ones. The BSIV buses will largely be supplied next year, with a few having already hit the road,” VECV Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Vinod Aggarwal told DH, adding that the company will receive an additional order for 1,700 BSIV buses shortly.
“Of the 1,229 buses, 350 are already on the road covering 93 depots and operating inter-city and between small satellite towns,” he said, adding that the buses belong to the mid-segment and are mass transport vehicles.
Market share
Currently, VECV claims to be the market leader for buses (LMD and HD) in Karnataka, with around 1,100 retail bus sales in 2015, and a market share of 34.5%. Its key markets in the state are Bengaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Shivamogga.
“In Bengaluru, in 2007, we sold 400 buses to BMTC, which are still running, having covered more than 600,000 km each,” he claimed.
Last year, VECV sold over 10,000 buses, and this year, for the first seven months, it recorded 17% growth, expecting to close at 12,000 bus unit sales this year.
DH News Service