TVS gearing up for 6 more new products this year

Mr. Venu Srinivasan, the company’s chairman and managing director, said the company planned to increase the number of its high-end models, even as rival auto maker Bajaj Auto Ltd said that it was looking to develop a small car in a bid to enter the passenger car market.TVS planned to launch six new products over the next year, including a variant of one of its popular models, the Apache, an electric bike, and a passenger three-wheeler, Srinivasan added.

The company will also commence manufacturing at its Indonesia unit, which has a capacity of about 75,000 bikes, and expects this to contribute around Rs370 crore this year to sales.

“This result in not wholly unexpected,” said Umesh Karne, a senior research analyst at Mumbai-based Emkay Share and Stock Brokers Ltd.

Karne pointed out that both Hero Honda and Bajaj have shown a decline in profitability as well as revenue growth on account of an increased interest rate. The profitability had also been affected by a price war between the top three two-wheeler firms, he added.