Eicher Motors best known in the country for their light trucks, commercial vehicles and Royal Enfield motorcycles, plans to create a new segment in the four-wheeler vehicle space. The new segment will be targeted towards personal four-wheelers and will comply with all rules of a four-wheeler to be legal on-road. The new vehicle will be a result of Eicher and ATV maker Polaris India’s joint venture.
The vehicle will not be a quadricycle like the Bajaj RE60, but would be targeted towards personal mobility like the Renault Twizy electric car sold in Europe. Competitor Bajaj Auto showcased the U-Concept on the lines of a personal vehicle, which can seat two and is smaller than the Tata Nano in terms of dimensions. The upcoming vehicle from Eicher could be an answer to the same.
The joint venture with Polaris is exclusively to create this segment in the Indian market. Eicher says that work on the new vehicle is currently taking shape with partner Polaris and will be ready for unveil in 2015. The company plans to produce the four-wheeler from its older plant based in Jaipur, Rajasthan which has been re-constructed. The vehicle could be a two-seater featuring a small-capacity petrol motor targeted towards efficiency.
Eicher is currently ramping up its bike production facility for Royal Enfield models with an investment of Rs. 600 crore. The investment will be used for capacity expansion as well as increasing research and development infrastructure for its new products. The capacity expansion will take place at the company’s Oragadam plant, near Chennai and will be able to roll out 5 lakh units of its motorcycles a year by the end of 2015.
