Mahindra Truck & Bus business to demerge into M&M Ltd. to operate as a new division

On 14^th August, Mahindra reinforced our commitment to our truck and bus division, renaming Mahindra Navistar Automotive Ltd. as Mahindra Trucks and Buses Ltd. (MTBL), which is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the US $16.2 billion Mahindra Group. Subject to regulatory approvals, we also intend to demerge our trucks and buses operations from MTBL into Mahindra & Mahindra to develop greater synergies. We also plan to invest Rs. 200 crores to further strengthen our existing product line up and start probing for new product lines that could lead to further capital infusion of over Rs. 300 crores in due course.

We are also implementing new branding for our heavy commercial vehicle range. The multi-axle trucks will now be called Mahindra TRUXO 25 and TRUXO 31; Tractor Trailers will be called Mahindra TRACO 35 and TRACO 40; and the tippers will be called Mahindra TORRO 25 and TORRO 31. Speaking on this new development, Dr. Pawan Goenka - President Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., said, “We are fully committed to our commercial vehicles business and intend to focus on running the LCV, Truck and Bus business as a separate division post the proposed demerger, with the objective of growing our presence in the Indian commercial vehicle industry. We plan to invest significant resources over the next few years which will help us strengthen our existing product range and refurbish the current LCV range. Exploratory work has also begun for the introduction of new products that will help address the ICV and MCV segments in the 7.5 to 16 ton GVW category”. Nalin Mehta, Managing Director and CEO, Mahindra Trucks and Buses Limited, said “The new nomenclature and rebranding demonstrates our long term commitment to the commercial vehicle business which has the full support of the Mahindra Group. While our name has changed, what remains unchanged is our determination to deliver on our customer’s evolving needs. With a powerful range of products including HCVs, LCVs and buses, and a continued focus on breakthrough innovations we will continue to deliver market-leading performance and enhanced products and services for the Indian transport industry”.

Today, with over 1 lakh LCV trucks and buses and more than 8,000 HCV trucks on Indian roads, we provide service with a 24x7 service network of more than 1,591 touch points that includes 57, 3S dealerships, 271 authorized service points drawn from other dealers within our Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors network and nearly 1,263 roadside assistance points strategically located on important trucking routes. This network will be further expanded by leveraging synergies following the demerger of operations. We also have India’s first multilingual helpline which is manned by technical experts to provide instant support along with the NOW mobile service vans and workshops.

In tune with our commitment towards the business and customers, we have launched several pioneering initiatives. We are first in the industry to provide the ‘5-years’ or ‘5 lakh Km’ transferrable warranty. For tippers, we have launched on-site warranty and have also rolled out an attractive AMC package. We also provide offers such as up to 100% finance on Chassis and up to 5 year loan tenure.

MPOWER - Edition 2

Mahindra Trucks and Buses launched the second batch of MPOWER - the Management Development Program for the nextgen Youth Transport Entrepreneurs - at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) on Saturday, the 3rd of August, 2013. The upside of this batch was that it had 35 participants – 5 more than the first batch.

The guiding philosophy of the program is empowering the next generation of India’s transporters/ fleet owners to “take forward their family business with their/ your OWN vision”, as propounded by Mr. Anand Mahindra while launching the program on the sidelines of the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards ceremony on 9th Jan ’13.

Mr. Nalin Mehta had also emphasized on the fact to media that MTBL was keen on the “walk the talk” initiation that urged the nextgen of transporters to join their ‘Papa ka Business’ in out TV-led mass media campaign a year ago.

MPOWER program is the next milestone of our engagement with young transporters, with Youth Transport Personality Awards being one more such step.

We chose and invited young transport entrepreneurs who belong to the finest transport companies of India for the 14 days course which is aimed at professionalizing the Indian transport sector in the long run. A course, of which the primary focus is the issues of the transport sector.  Notable faculty members of IIMA are running the course that covers subjects like, PROFESSIONALISM, BUSINESS PLANNING, MARKET& SEGMENTS, HR PRACTICES, SERVICE QUALITY, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT& ACCOUNTING, SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, LEGAL AND REGULATORY, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INDUSTRY FOCUSSED SESSIONS.

The program, MPOWER, which commenced on August 3, 2013 will conclude on the August 16, 2013 with the valedictory session.

The inaugural session  was graced by our MD and SVP along with IIMA faculty (Prof Raghuram and Prof Dheeraj Sharma), the MTBL team and members of Anantara Solutions team, our agency for transport sector initiatives.

The first round of MPOWER was a huge success not only in terms of an emotional connect with the nextgen of transporters but also in terms of bringing our business and offerings in their focus and also helping start a business relation with many of the people who attended. This successful engagement has motivated us to reinvest in driving a positive change in the transport ecosystem while nurturing our business interest.

We strive to make this program a grand success while it strengthens our brand even further, along with other initiatives like the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards and Outperformers’ League. All these initiatives will help us connect with various constituents of the Indian transport ecosystem at both the rational and emotional levels, which can be leveraged to build a strong market presence for Mahindra Trucks and Buses Ltd.

Mr. R. C. Mangal with the MPOWER Delegates and the gathering at the IMDC Auditorium

MD with Prof Dheeraj Sharma, Course Coordinator of MPOWER and Prof Raghuram, an authority on Transport and Logistics

OUTPERFORMER’S LEAGUE MEET - PATIALA

The month of July kicked off with an Outperformer’s League meet which was held at Patiala, Punjab on the 15^th of July 15, 2013. The event had a great participation with an overall count of 255 customer attendees out of which 176 were Unique Fleet Owners followed by 21 Local Dealership Officials, 4 Financers and 4 MTBL Officials.

The program was initiated by Mr. Satyanarayanana, Zonal Head North, who addressed the gathering with a welcome speech followed by a Corporate Presentation and an OPL introduction. The program gained momentum with Mr. Rajeev Sharma’s, GM – Logistics and Supply Chain, Panacea Biotech, Presentation on the Trucking Industry. Mr. Bharat Khanna, GM – Arshiya Logistics, gave insight on Opportunities for Market Load Industry in Patiala. As the evening went by, Mr. Moninder Walia, Editor Transport Times gave a Talk on the Transport Industry.

Mr. Pradeep Varaiya, Tyre Expert took over by giving a Presentation on Increasing Profit by Extending Tyre Life. Mr. Gagandeep Singh Behl, ABM took the privilege of introducing MTB Team and giving the Vote of Thanks. This was followed by the Key Distribution Ceremony whereby Five Keys were distributed to the customers. A short introduction of Dealer Sales and Service Team was given by Mr. Hemant Goyal, Director Pushpagoyal Enterprises. The end of the evening was marked by Cocktails followed by Dinner.

The customers provided feedback on what they felt about this meet and how it helped them. To quote Mr. Manjot, Dinsha Transport, Rajpura, “I find this program very interactive, what other companies do is simply not close to this. OPL is high level interaction program; it is a platform which makes transporter globalized. The speakers especially Mr. P.C (Tyre) is well known person in market. He knows how to inject tyre knowledge into transporter nerves. It is an excellent transport forum in all respect.”

Mr. Raj kumar, Agarwal Transport, Cheeka said, that Mahindra has set a benchmark and has done a fabulous job altogether. This has got him to see the product range and has also built confidence in him with regards to the facilities being provided by Mahindra.

And finally quoting Mr. Lavi Chadha, Chadha Motors, Patiala, “As we know that transport is having a tough and busy time, but thanks to Mahindra who has taken an initiative to inject some social life in a form of get together; a quality get together where we can get quality interaction with industry experts."