Mahindra Two Wheelers, a few days back, confirmed its plans of launching new products every quarter and its aim of increasing market share in India, which is among the largest across the globe. Now, experts feel that this launch spree of Mahindra Two Wheelers could lead to it becoming a new superpower in the two-wheeler market and there is no reason why the firm cannot do it.
Sounding really confident, Viren Popli, Chief of Operations at Mahindra Two Wheelers, said in an interview, "We have been on a stabilisation mode putting our infrastructure in place in the last one year. With a series of launches in both domestic and international markets, we are now looking at rapid growth.”
Popli’s words embodied the kind of potential the Indian market has at the present and for the years to come. The Indian bike market is ruled dominated by three firms at present, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, all of which have a widespread product range with multiple models in the right segment.
Mahindra Two Wheelers, still, is behind these three and needs to launch more models to be able to compete with them. It has got an excellent start, riding high on the success of Mahindra Centuro, a bike that is truly a winner in all aspects. Analysts are of the opinion that Mahindra Two Wheelers needs to be highly strategic in order to grab the market pulse.
Launching the right models is the most important aspect that Mahindra Two Wheelers will need to look into. All firms in the market, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, have bikes in the entry level segment, especially the first two. Bajaj Discover and Hero Splendor series are classic examples of how to capture the Indian bike market, by launching the same product in different ways and making minor tweaks.
Honda, on its part, has adopted a different path, gaining a lot of profit and success by selling scooters. Since the modern day market is all about technology and presentation, Honda has captured that in an excellent manner. Another company that has followed the same path is the TVS Motor, which recently trumped Bajaj Auto to gain the third spot in India in terms of domestic sales.
Launching models is only one part of the plan and the selling them is a different one, for which an intrinsic network of dealerships is required all across the country. Firms like Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp have done a superb dealership network that helps it to reach remote areas across the country. Mahindra Two Wheelers is also planning to improve its dealership network and Popli, spoke about the same in a recent interview.
“Today we have 1,500 touch points compared to about 600 last year across the country. This will definitely help in growing our volumes," he said, clearly indicating what Mahindra Two Wheelers has it in mind. To put things in a nutshell, Mahindra Two Wheelers has the potential of performing really well in India and reaching the top, ahead of other brands by continuously launching more models at regular intervals of time.
