Eicher Trucks and Buses complete 25 years of operations in India

June 16, 2011, Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh: Eicher Trucks and buses (ETB) a business area of VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd. (VECV) has completed 25 years of operations in India in the month of June 2011. The first Eicher truck was rolled out from its state of the art manufacturing plant in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh in 1986 and over the past 25 years, the products have got endorsement from happy customers of over 300,000 vehicles. The company today has transformed into a complete CV manufacturer with a wide product range from 5t to 40t GVW trucks and 21 to 69 seater buses.

The company's products strongly emphasize its customer orientation. Eicher trucks were one of the first in India to offer the tilt cabin, apart from ready to use built-up vehicle in accordance with customers’ needs. Another example is the Eicher school bus which has been designed in conjunction with the IRTE (Institute of Road Traffic Association), school and parent bodies and the IIT. The result has been a bus that is equipped with safety mechanisms to ensure an incident-free journey. The company's effort to provide value to its customers has also borne fruit with increased customer acceptance reflected in growing vehicle sales.

Eicher products are well known in the market for its overall low cost of ownership and the reason can be found in the 'Eicher advantages'. At the core of 'Eicher advantages' is the Eicher vehicle's high fuel efficiency. In addition to being customer centric, the geographical expanse of its service network has ensured dominant position of Eicher Trucks and Buses.

Last 3 years have been a Landmark year for Eicher Trucks & Buses. In 2008- Eicher Trucks and Buses became part of VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd.(VECV),a 50:50 JV between Eicher Motors & Volvo Group. It is a partnership that brings together Global leadership in technology, quality, safety & environmental care along with the deep knowledge & understanding of the Indian CV market and low cost structure. The company is well on the way to achieve its vision to be recognized as an industry leader driving modernization in commercial transportation, in India and other developing markets.

The following points capture the achievements of ETB in the past 25 years:

• Plant has a current capacity of over 50,000 units and further capacity enhancement is being implemented. Presently ETB is providing direct and indirect employment opportunities to over 10,000 people thus complementing the state government efforts of generating employments for its people. ETB has made immense contribution in developing Pithampur as a major Auto Industry Hub of the country.
• ETB has a strong presence in the Light & Medium (L/MD) duty trucks segment with around 38% share in 7-12T category and 30% in 5-12T trucks. Eicher L/MD trucks have a proven superior performance especially with respect to fuel-efficiency and are tagged as “Mileage Ka Badshah”.
• ETB is also making very strong inroads into Heavy Duty trucks segment of 16t-40t with their “VE” series of Fuel Efficient heavy duty trucks. The VE series Eicher HD trucks have received very good response from the market with its promise of delivering enhanced Value to the customers.
• Ever expanding service network of over 200 touch points today covering the length and breadth of the country ensuring prompt service support to the customers.
• Presence of complete range of 21-69 seater buses in the School, staff/executive, and tourist segment.
• Growing presence in the markets outside India- accounting for over 8% of output and opportunity to leverage the Global opportunity in emerging markets with VECV.
• Adopting quality process from Japan- like QRQC, IQUP, CSVAS, Hoshin Kanri to drive the best product quality in the industry to ensure customer gets the best value for money. State of the art an in house product development and design team to meet customers’ future requirement.
• Investment of around Rs. 4,500 million for the production and final assembly of the Volvo group’s new global medium duty engine platform. These engines will also be used for Eicher’s range of heavy duty commercial vehicles. This is the first Euro-6 engine plant in Asia and certainly the most technologically advanced – as it will be producing base engines capable of Euro 6 emission norms.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vinod Aggarwal, CEO, VE Commercial vehicles said “It is a momentous achievement for all of us at Eicher Trucks and Buses and our team in the past 25 years has contributed in enhancing customer experience through superior products and has helped us achieve a dominant space in the LD/MD segment.” ‘’In recent years, Eicher Trucks and Buses has continually invested in innovation, technology and expansion. As a result, we would continue to enhance our capacities and efficiency, while adhering to their core principal of quality and manufacturing excellence’’, added Mr. A.K. Birla, President, Eicher Trucks and Buses.