Commercial vehicles set for heavy-duty FY24 sales, revenue expected to rise 30%
commercial vehicles, a barometer of economic activity, are expected to hit an all-time high in FY24, fetching record revenue for companies such as Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and VE Commercial Vehicles. Pricier heavy-duty vehicles are driving demand amid record government spending on infrastructure and increased freight movement.
FY24 sales may marginally surpass the previous peak of 1,007,311 units in the pre-Covid year of FY19, but revenue is expected to rise about 30% from that year.
Costlier vehicles
Vehicles have become costlier due to more stringent emission norms and there's been growing demand for trucks with higher payloads-both contributing to higher per-unit revenue.
Sales of heavy duty trucks that can carry more freight has grown in healthy double digits — by 15% in the first seven months of the year, said Vinod Aggarwal, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) chief executive officer and managing director. VECV is a joint venture between the Volvo Group and Eicher Motors.
«The overall load carrying capacity in the system has gone up because of the migration to bigger trucks,» Aggarwal said, adding that the industry is likely to touch or cross the previous high this fiscal year.
Demand for buses has also risen by more than 35% in this period as better highways have boosted demand for travel by road rather than overcrowded trains.
«We do think that we (industry) will hit a new peak and surpass the previous one.
