Interview with Vinod K Sahay, Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Truck & Bus /  Mahindra Construction Equipment Divisions, Mahindra & Mahindra

Will it be ‘fast & Furio’ for your truck and bus division with the launch of the new Mahindra Furio truck range?

We surely hope so. We are quite confident it will be so.

Your Blazo trucks are also doing quite well in the market. Can we have your views on that?

Blazo has done very well. We launched Blazo around two years ago. We knew we were a challenger brand and we cannot afford to launch a me-too product, so the whole objective of Blazo was that we were going to launch a product with which we are going to give guarantees to the customer. Everyone claims their truck is best in terms of fuel efficiency, in terms of service parts,  but with the Blazo we gave a guarantee  that you get the best mileage for your truck compared to any other truck in the industry or your fleet. Otherwise you return our truck. I am very happy to report that after more than 15,000 Blazo trucks on the road, not a single truck has come back. Blazo today has clearly established itself as the most fuel efficient and fluid efficient truck in the Indian trucking industry in its class. Backed by its fuel efficiency guarantee, we also gave service and parts guarantee and as a result of which Blazo is continuously growing on volume and market share. We have doubled our market share compared to what it was two years back. From 2.7pc we have already moved to 5.4pc and gong forward we are hoping to do much better than what we have done so far.

Before the Furio was launched, you were missing in the 6.5 tonnes to 16 tonnes segment in the trucking industry. With the Furio, do you think, things will move FURIOusly ahead for your company?

Yes, that's the plan. As you know for the entire commercial vehicle segment, Mahindra is the number two brand and we are a clear No. 1 when it comes to small commercial vehicles and we are No. 3 when it comes to light commercial vehicles, we have come to No.4 in heavy commercial vehicles and aspire to be No.3 very soon. But this range you have rightly said, the 6.2 tonnes to 16.2 tonnes, we were missing. We did not have this range in Mahindra & Mahindra. And that's what we were working for in the last four years, to come up with a platform which we have named Furio rightly so, which is a modular platform which will have the whole gamut of the range coming in this GVW portfolio with five engine options which will come in different segments and different class of vehicles, three transmission types and three cabin types. With that we address the full range and we hope to have a far higher level of volume and market share than we currently have in the overall commercial vehicle space.

Do you think this is a very critical segment in the commercial vehicle industry?

It is a very important segment because with India moving more towards a clear hub and spoke model, there are three large segments that are going to emerge. One is of course small commercial vehicle, second is the heavy commercial vehicles on a GVW of 37 to 49 tonne class,  and in between the LCV and ICV range. Already the industry is at a 1.5 lakh units volume per year which Mahindra has been missing, and that is why the segment is critical to us, not just that it completes the whole range, but also gives us additional volumes and additional profits which we can make out of putting Furio on the platform in this segment where we are able to sell more and get to a No. 3 position. 

The Furio range would comprise of 21 models with five engine options. Can you elaborate on that?

Overall, this platform from 6.2 tonnes to 16.2 tonnes has 21 products. Each of those products will have multiple wheel bases and multiple load body types. Of the 21 products, we are going to launch seven in BS 4 version. We have unveiled four today--11, 12, 13 and 14 tonne range. Progressively we are going to launch 15 tonne and 16 tonne, as well as a 7.5 tonne truck in BS 4 standards. Because the window for BS 4 that is left is very small, we are directly going to launch 14 models in BS 6 standards. By the time BS 6 comes in the country in 2020 April to June quarter,  we will have the full 21 different products of this platform  playing fully in the market.

Your company is now a No.2 player overall in the CV business in the country. Will your company emerge as a very significant player here with the Furio coming in?

Very briefly can you tell us about SAIC Motor Corporation? It’s a Chinese company with a legacy of its own but is it a force to reckon with?

Just to give you a perspective of the company, SAIC sells almost 70 lakh cars per year and the Indian market is 30 lakhs per year. So this company is the market leader. They have got various brands and lots of platforms to choose from. MG brand which the company owns actually is a British brand with 94 years old history and legacy and it was an iconic brand. MG cars were exported to the US also in big number and in India also we have more than 300 MG owners. A lot of cars were made on the MG platform. 

                So now when SAIC has taken over this British brand they want to take this globally now and we have already launched in many countries. India is going to be the next destination and we are going to launch our first car next year in Q2 2019. So the good part is that SAIC has got huge resources. They are investing in technology, they are investing in EV cars, they are investing in hybrids and connectedness, shared mobility. So all this knowledge I think can be transferred to India at the right time whenever we and our customers need it.

Your company makes a large number of cars that are also exported out of China, yet in India you are going to be cautious and bold. The reason being you are launching an SUV first and a year later an electric vehicle. So it’s cautious and bold. You agree?

There are two things here and very rightly you have said cautious and bold. We want to lay a good foundation to start with and SUV C-segment hopefully is the right segment we feel to enter and our focus is to make sure that we choose good dealers, we have good employees and we can give a great experience to the Indian consumers. It’s not only the initial buying experience but also the cost of ownerships, spare parts, resale parts everything hopefully is as per the Indian consumer expectation. Once we lay the right foundation, then we start getting into more spaces.

                Now, EV is a very important thing because the government of India has shown the intention and vision to get into that space because that’s the global trend and to take care of the environmental issues I think all of us have some responsibility. So the government of India wants OEMs to take that responsibility so we are saying okay either we can wait for the infrastructure to develop or join hands with other stake holders including government to start this journey and take some leadership.

                Luckily for us in SAIC, we are leaders globally in this space so why not bring it to India right now. It’s going to be challenging, it’s not easy, we would have road blocks, but I think with the right intension with the good help of government I think we should be able to solve it. So that’s why it’s bold.

You talked about space, you talked about electric vehicles, the IC engine vehicles but what about a commercial vehicles because you are also big there with the Maxus brand?

You are right. Luckily, as I said earlier, we have a plethora of products and platforms and we can bring it to India at the right time but I think it’s one step at a time. The bigger vision is there, the dream is there but as they say, you need to be realistic. We need to make sure that we do a good job in phase 1 wherein we establish a good foundation, people accept us and people accept our proposition. Once they like our products and experience, hopefully after that we can get into other products including commercial vehicles.

You are a man with great experience, you have worked with some very big names and you have also been posted abroad with great responsibility. Are you optimistic and cautious in your approach at MG Motor India?

It’s not going to be easy. To be very honest, I am nervous you know because it’s not easy to crack our Indian market. We may talk about theory but execution is tough. So right now I think all of us are on our toes. We believe in start-up kind of a culture at this point of time. We need to make sure that we take all kinds of different initiatives, do different things, do different experimentation but at the same point of time we are able to execute to consumer expectation.

                It’s not going to be easy so we know that. The good news is we know all the issues as you said experience means we know all the issues, we know how different manufacturers have done, what we can learn from them, successes and mistakes. So this is what we are observing and trying to do and it should be an interesting journey. Opportunity is that we know what can go wrong so we are trying to get ready and trying to make a final offer which is compelling for the consumers.