Saar: Last year, the Japanese automaker doubled its sales in India.
Isuzu India is expecting to grow its sales by 60 per cent this year over the previous one. The company has set this aim based on the growing demand for pick-up trucks in smaller cities and towns in the country. Apart from the MU-X SUV, Isuzu sells the D-Max pick-up truck in three guises, two (S-Cab and Regular Cab) out of which are reserved for the lightweight commercial vehicle segment. The third one, the V-Cross, is the most feature-rich and can be registered as a personal vehicle.
All the above-mentioned vehicles are produced at Isuzu’s plant in Sricity, Andhra Pradesh. The facility, which recently rolled-out its 10,000th vehicle, was inaugurated in April 2016. Prior to that, Isuzu India was producing its vehicles at Hindustan Motors’ facility near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Currently, Isuzu’s Sricity plant has an annual production capacity of 50,000 units. With the rise in demand, Isuzu India is planning to upgrade the facility to be able to roll-out 1.2 lakh vehicles per annum.
Isuzu India also confirmed that it has been on a gradual growth path. Last year it sold 5,000 units in the country, doubling its sales figures over the previous year. The company confirmed that it has witnessed an equal demand for both commercial and passenger vehicles. By diving deeper into more smaller towns and cities across the country, Isuzu hopes to more than double its sales figures this year over the last one. Presently, the company has 35 outlets in India but that number will grow as the demand for the products rise.
With the added production capacity, Isuzu India is also looking at exporting into neighbouring countries such as Bhutan and Nepal. Once tapped successfully, the company would then consider expanding exports in markets like South Africa and the Middle East. Essentially, Isuzu India’s exporting plans would target only those markets which are not served by Isuzu’s main plant in Thailand.
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