Isuzu D-Max being watched closely by rivals

  • Sep 13, 2013
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Isuzu's D-Max pick-up trucks widen industry antennae as competitors and industry analysts keep a close eye on its sales performance

Isuzu D-Max

Japanese truck maker Isuzu Motors Ltd's brief stint in India till now has been quiet. But it has already got the industry curious about one of the two products it forayed into India with early this year: its pick-up truck.

D-Max, the pick-up truck Isuzu launched in February, comes to a country that has been lukewarm to this genre of commercial vehicles. So, the likes of Tata Xenon and Mahindra & Mahindra Genio are far and few in one of the hottest commercial vehicles markets in recent years.

Their volumes are small. Yes, the pick-up numbers seem big - as much as a fourth of the 7.9 lakh commercial vehicles sold in 2013, as per industry lobby SIAM data - when essentially goods carriers such as Tata Ace and Ashok Leyland Dost are taken into account. But pure multi-utility pick-ups, the likes of Xenon and Genio, are extremely minor plays.

It is into this setting that Isuzu's D-Max has made an entry. And how does it plan to make an impact? By making pick-up trucks an owner-driven category in India. That's not something industry leaders Tatas or Mahindras have managed.

"We do not compete with any of them," said Shigeru Wakabayashi, deputy managing director of Isuzu Motors India Pvt Ltd. "Our concept is owner-driven pick-up trucks, which can be used for commercial as well as personal use. The target segment would a plantation farmer or grocery store owner or a small scale industry business man."

Wakabayashi said, "If you (are) going to buy a pick-up truck, that's a production tool. From the finance company point of view, they can easily provide finance to you." It won't be as easy, according to him, if you are, say, an agricultural trader buying a passenger vehicle or a jeep (read: a consumer product).

D-Max

A senior official of Ashok Leyland, on the condition of anonymity, told this correspondent that Isuzu's product would be watched with keen interest in his company. That's because if Isuzu succeeds where others failed, Ashok Leyland can introduce pick-up trucks from its joint venture partner Nissan, which is relatively strong in this segment.

Isuzu has had a lot of success with pick-ups in Thailand. But then, Thailand is the second largest manufacturer of pick-up trucks in the world. India has hardly even started out in this segment. It has hardly worked here.

Kumar Kandaswami, Senior Director of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt Ltd, said, "In developed markets, pick-up trucks are also lifestyle products." Not so in India, where "it needs to be a utility vehicle, at least to begin with."

India's incumbent players in the pick-up category have done well in States such as Punjab, which has an affluent semi-rural base, Kandaswami said.

Abdul Majeed, leader of automotive practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the key to getting the initial breakthrough in the rural market would be pricing.

The lack of a good product has hurt the category till now, said Arun Aravindan of Autobei Consulting Group. "Xenon was stuck with engineering issues such as too much body vibration while driving, along with poor after sales network." He said, "Isuzu comes with a top class brand image in the mass market, along with the story of great success in South East Asia and Americas."

D-Max shares the same platform with General Motors mid-size trucks such as Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon in the US.

In India, Isuzu has signed a contract manufacturing deal with Hindustan Motors for vehicle production. It also plans to commence production from its own 120,000 units plant in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh from 2016. The other product it has introduced in India is the SUV MU-7.

"We do not expect market to be big from tomorrow. It will be a tempting market 3-5 years from now," said Wakabayashi.

Related: HM to build Isuzu vehicles in India

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