Mahindra unveils new truck under 'Furio' brand

Mahindra Truck & Bus Division (MTBD), a wholly-owned unit of $21-billion Mahindra Group, on Tuesday announced the unveiling of the first set of products, branded as Furio, under its new intermediate commercial vehicle (ICV) segment.

The company unveiled four trucks – 11 tonne, 12 tonne, 13 tonne and 14 tonne – at its plant in Chakan near Pune. The company plans to launch further 21 trucks under this range, with eight expected to be launched this year.

The range has been designed by Italian car designer, Pininfarina. Mahindra has invested Rs 600 crore on the project, which took services of 500 of the company’s engineers and 180 suppliers, the company said.

The company has launched the range with MDI Tech engine, and is planning to incorporate four types of engines in it, with one engine in CNG segment. The range is also equipped with Fuelsmart technology.

The company claims to have tested the range for over 17 lakh kilometres across India, spanning more than 1,000 trails.

The company is also planning to export the Furio range to the subcontinental countries.
With over 185,000 vehicles already on the road, the company is the fourth largest player in the HCV segment, and has already sold more than 40,000 trucks. The company had started development of the range In 2014.

“I know it has lot of difficulties, because we are a challenger brand. The commercial vehicle market is very crowded,” Vinod Sahay, CEO, MTBD said.

Mahindra has a 9.4% market share in the LCV segment.

The company has been rapidly expanding its after-sales service and spares network, which now includes 100 3S dealerships, over 149 authorised service centres, 2,900 roadside assistance points and 1,600 spares network points.

Meanwhile, this year the company’s division is expecting to become EBITDA positive for the first time, according to Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra.

“I am confident that just like the Blazo HCV Series, the Furio range of ICVs will also set new benchmarks for performance, earnings and deliver better value for the customers,” Goenka added.

Earlier in 2015, the company had rolled out its 15,000th HCV (Heavy Commercial Vehicle) from its Chakan plant. In a bid to ramp up its operations, the company had announced a fresh investment of Rs 700 crore which were supposed to go into development of light and intermediate commercial vehicles (LCV and ICV).