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Piaggio Greaves plans range of 3-wheelers launch next year

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Aug. 10

PIAGGIO Greaves Vehicles Ltd (PGVL), the 51:49 equity joint venture between Piaggio of Italy and the Pune-based Greaves Ltd, is planning to launch its range of higher capacity cargo three-wheelers by mid-2001. These new vehicles are also expected to feat ure a range of petrol and diesel engines from the Piaggio stable.

The higher capacity three-wheelers would include a three-quarter tonne cargo version and a six to nine seater passenger transport vehicle, company officials said. Later, after the successful introduction of the higher capacity three-wheelers, the company is mulling the production of a four-wheel `derived light transport vehicle'.

The new engines which would be manufactured at PGVL's facilities in Pune, will be compliant with Euro-I emission norms and would also be Euro-II ready, said company officials. The company currently produces the `APE' range of diesel three-wheelers under technical guidance from Piaggio.

Speaking to the Business Line, Mr. Ravi Chopra, Managing Director of PGVL, said that the company, which hoped to break-even during this year, was proposing to increase its capacity in a phased manner.

Work on the expansion has been initiated and the installed capacity is expected to go up from the present 25,000 units per annum to about 55,000 units per annum by 2002.

The joint venture company has invested over Rs. 65 crores in the plant in Pune. Mr. Chopra added that about a year since introduction in the country, the APE range of diesel three-wheelers had found considerable acceptance with sales reaching over 10,000 units. Production of the vehicle had also reached a level of 2,000 units per month, he said.

According to company officials, the APE was introduced in select towns in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh in the last quarter of 1999. PGVL's concept of developing special purpose vehicles on the same platform had evoked considerable interest, the officials said.

The company's special purpose vehicle concept caters to diverse needs such as courier services, poultry farms for egg transport, dairies, bakeries, LPG distribution, mobile shops, solid waste disposal and pesticide spraying.

The three-seater passenger version of APE was launched by the company late last year. However, Greaves, which had its own range of diesel three-wheelers, has discontinued manufacture of those vehicles, according to Mr. Chopra.

However, Mr. Chopra said that the company had no concrete plans to introduce their vehicles in the Capital. ``With the fate of diesel-driven commercial vehicles still being unclear, we would like to refrain from introducing our vehicles in Delhi, though they are all already Euro-I compliant,'' he said.

Exports of the APE vehicles to other countries such as Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Sudan, Turkey, South Africa and Bangladesh have been continuing during the past few months. PGVL is also expanding its dealer network to address the needs of customers all ov er the country, company sources said. Currently, the company has a total of over 130 dealers.