Company announces plans of rolling out bigger bikes in the 200-250 cc segment by 2014-15

The two key areas where TVS has focused on over the past three years are automatic transmission technology and hybrid technology, which were showcased at the New Delhi Auto Expo. On both these fronts, the company is moving ahead with beta versions for trials that should commence by September.

Meantime, TVS' R&D team is working overtime to take to production a concept hybrid scooter called Qube. The scooter is likely to be priced at 55,000 to 60,000, which is at least a 30% premium over the existing automatic scooter range.

"We have done a lot of things to reduce costs-used cost-effective material, reduced weight, adopted a low-cost manufacturing process, and the whole controller is locally developed," said Harne.

While all these new products will take 18 months to hit the market, for the current fiscal, TVS Motor Company has lined two new motorcycles and a scooter in a bid to claw back some lost share. In fiscal 2012, TVS' market share in two-wheelers had dropped by a percentage point to 14%, allowing Honda Motorcycle to overtake it with a 15% share. Bajaj has a 19% slice and Hero MotoCorp leads with 45%.

Umesh Karne, an auto analyst with BRICS Securities, says the new products will help the company carve out a niche in hybrid scooters and bigger bikes, although the real challenge lies in the mass market.

"While these new products will definitely help the company build decent volumes, it will be a huge challenge to take on the might of Honda," said Karne.

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