Prasan Firodia, Managing Director, Drive Motors mentioned, “Between automobile manufacturing and our excessive tech parts’ companies, development alternatives look good over the subsequent two years. The financial outlook is optimistic. We’re taking a look at investing Rs 2000 crore within the subsequent two years to broaden operations.” Of this, Rs 300-400 crore will likely be utilised to fee a second paint store on the firm’s manufacturing facility in Pune (Maharashtra).
Drive Motors (listed on the Bombay Inventory Trade) produces small business automobiles like Traveller and Urbania and SUV Drive Gurkha, amongst others. The corporate bought 17,335 business automobiles (up from 12,913 items in the identical interval final fiscal) and 1,133 passenger automobiles (up from 540 items) between April and December of the continued monetary yr. The corporate additionally manufactures engines and gears for Mercedes Benz, BMW and Rolls Royce on a contractual foundation.
Firodia spoke to ET on the Bharat Mobility Present (BMS) being held within the nationwide capital from Feb 1-3, 2023. The corporate showcased an electrical model of the Traveller, Traveller CNG and Urbania diesel on the expo. “With rising urbanisation and consequent development of public transport options within the cities, there’s a important want for sustainable and economical last-mile connectivity. Our focus now’s to strengthen our play on this area with the CNG and electrical Traveller and with automobiles primarily based on the brand new Urbania platform”, Firodia mentioned.
The corporate – which is the biggest van maker within the nation – mentioned there’s a want for regulatory authorities to determine applicable automobiles for particular functions to encourage adoption of electrical automobiles in India. “Whereas the federal government is placing a number of concentrate on bringing on-road electrical buses, electrical vans with the capability to hold 20-30 passengers can even assist decongest roads and tackle challenges associated to final mile connectivity in a sustainable method”, Firodia mentioned.
He added whereas the corporate will proceed to speculate to broaden its presence in these segments within the native market, Firodia mentioned work can be on to scale up exports going forward. He knowledgeable, “Exports presently comprise slightly than 10% of our gross sales, presently. We’re focusing on growing this to 20-25% of our total volumes within the subsequent two years.”
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