Mahindra Navistar Automotives Limited (MNAL) declared that it rolled out the 5000th truck from its production plant located in Chakan, Maharashtra. The company, a subsidiary of the US 15.4 billion Mahindra Group, attained this mark in a short period since production was kicked-off. Notably, there are around 4500 Navistar trucks plying over the Indian roads which have covered a distance of over 8 crore km.
Along with the No. 1 position in TNS Truck Track 2012 in Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) load and mini-bus segment, Mahindra Navistar has been bestowed with the joint No. 1 rank in Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV) Truck (MAV segment). Earlier, the company officials declared its commercial launch throughout the country in December 2011. MNAL is also counted as the first company to host awards exclusively for the Indian commercial vehicle industry. By incepting the Transport Excellence Awards, Mahindra Navistar celebrated the achievements made by the major players of the Indian trucking industry.
While speaking about the growth of company, Nalin Mehta, Managing Director, MNAL, said, “Mahindra Navistar has today emerged as the new and viable alternative for the Indian trucking customers who have been experiencing status quo and inertia in a duopolistic market. As a challenger brand, Mahindra Navistar’s strategic intent is to challenge this status quo by not only trying harder but also trying out-of-the-box measures which can be summed up by the brand philosophy of 'OK IS NO LONGER OK'.”
He further added, “This is a landmark day in the history of Mahindra Navistar as it marks another very important milestone with 5000 trucks rolled out from Chakan Plant and with more than 8 crore kilometres behind us! This achievement reflects the ever increasing confidence of the customers. This also indicates that MNAL trucks are running on multiple applications across India with wide acceptance of customers. This would not have been possible without the support of the formidable service network of nearly 1001 service points on strategic trucking routes PAN India that includes 56 unique, large-scale 3S dealerships which are designed to cater to customers differently and that have become landmarks in the Indian CV industry.”
The comprehensive network of the company consists of 220 authorised service centres and 703 roadside assistance points. MNAL also offers various perks to the customers, such as 4 years unlimited mileage warranty and a 48-hour on-road pledge. These initiatives show that it is assured of the quality of its vehicles and the quick response time for service requests.
All the abovementioned advantages have enabled MNAL to acquire the first position in the TNS Customer Satisfaction. The company recently grabbed ‘HCV Truck of the Year - Prime Mover’ award for its MN40 at the Apollo CV Awards 2012. This award was second of this kind for the company, as it won HCV Truck of the Year (Rigid) last year.
MNAL was formed in 2005 when Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, the Indian multinational conglomerate, and International Truck and Engine Corporation, the operating company of Navistar, went into a Joint Venture (JV). The alliance between the two was dedicated towards producing light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles for the Indian as well as other potential markets of the world. This entity is in the process of marking its presence in every segment of the commercial vehicles, ranging from 3.5 tonne GVW to 49 tonne GCW, with different iterations to cater to cargo, passenger transport and specialised load applications.
The new range of HCVs offered by the company is exclusively designed to cope up with the requirements of Indian market. Its line-up has been developed using technical expertise of Navistar with contemporary values of ‘Made in India, Made for India and Made with 175 years of international trucking expertise’. The newly introduced array of medium and heavy commercial vehicles is produced in the new plant of the company at Chakan. This manufacturing facility, worth over Rs. 4000 crores, sprawls across an area of more than 700 acres and will be used to manufacture other vehicles developed by M&M.
