Italian auto major Piaggio Spa is making its wholly owned Indian subsidiary the global manufacturing hub for three-wheelers and a source of components to be used in its units located in other parts of the world.
Pune-based Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd has set a target of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) sales turnover during 2005-06 fiscal, Ravi Chopra, the chief of Piaggio's Indian subsidiary, told reporters in Chennai on Monday after launching 'Ape', a 1.3 tonner cargo 3-wheeler for the domestic market.
"Piaggio is looking at India to service the worldwide requirement of three-wheeler market," he said, adding that the Pune facility will be used to cater to the African, Latin American, South East Asian and neighbouring markets for three-wheelers.
The Indian facility, located near Pune, has a capacity of 1,00,000 units per annum. This will also be ramped up to 1,36,000 by 2005 fiscal-end, Chopra said.
Piaggio Spa has already started sourcing components such as plastic parts, mechanical components and sheet metal for its other manufacturing facilities outside India, he said.
Italy's Piaggio Spa converted Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd into its wholly owned subsidiary in August 2000 after buying out the Indian partner Greaves India's 49 per cent stake in the joint venture.
Chopra said Piaggio vehicles expects its exports to have 20 per cent share of total turnover in the next two years, aided by the Italian parent's decision to make the Indian arm the global hub for overseas markets.
Currently, the company's export figure is nominal at 1,000 units last year. Piaggio Vehicles, which has about 40 per cent market share in the cargo three-wheeler segment, had posted a turnover of Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.50 billion) in the 2004 fiscal. In the current fiscal, the company hopes to achieve total sales of Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion).
"Our target is to become a Rs 1000 crore sales company by 2005 fiscal-end," he said.
The company has sold over 200,000 one tonners in the Indian market, which was launched four-years back.
Chopra said the company hopes to sell about 20,000 1.3 tonners in the next one year period.
Piaggio Vehicles also plans to launch a 1.5 tonner four-wheeler cargo next fiscal, besides producing the existing range of three-wheelers in alternate fuels, such as CNG and LPG.
The company's existing three-wheeler models are diesel-run. The newly launched 1.3 tonner cargo three-wheeler, priced at Rs 180,000 (ex-showroom in Chennai), will be available across its 200 dealers in the country in three months.
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