After pioneering the SUV segment in the Indian auto market, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd is gearing up to strategise its moves to penetrate deeper into the two-wheeler segment. The company is planning to realign its target market segment with customer as the prime focus rather than focusing only on the engineering.
As per Mr. Viren Popli, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Market Development, Mahindra Two Wheelers, was quoted as saying, "The segmentation is in the mind of the consumer. And consumer usage and attitude towards the brand. So if I say I am into the 100 cc segment, it is difficult to play that game. It is our job to redefine."
He further confirmed that the two wheeler launch in India will now be driven more by the customers and less by the engineering.
While citing about how the two wheeler industry defines itself today in the country, Mr. Popli said, "We are the only industry now that defines our sales based on product capacity. The mobile phone industry is not defined on the basis of product feature - I have this processing power or that processing power. It's all defined very differently. Media is not."
He continued saying that the modernisation in the two wheeler industry in the country has not achieved a rapid growth rate and it is still following the traditional business pattern owing to which the market segmentation lacks consideration of the most important customer aspect.
For Mahindra’s two wheeler division, Mr. Popli will be extending his interest to launch the right vehicle for the right market segment as he is predicting exponential sales growth in the coming 10 years for the two wheeler industry.
