VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV), the Eicher-Volvo joint venture, is better placed among the new entrants in the Indian CV industry to compete well against the established players in the coming years, say analysts and industry observers.

"The Indian CV industry is likely to evolve giving new players an opportunity to challenge the incumbents. VECV is better placed among new entrants, given the marriage of Volvo's technological strength with Eicher's local market expertise. It is taking initiatives to gain 15% share in heavy truck segment and initial signs of success are visible," according to analysts.

"VECV leverages the strengths of both partners - Volvo brings strong product, technology and design capabilities, while Eicher has in-depth understanding of the local market, established backend and front-end relationships, and low-cost base. This association would enable introduction of products, which are not only high on technology at competitive cost, but are also apt for Indian roads and driving conditions," they said.

To compete not only with the incumbents, but also with global entrants like Daimler, VECV has been working on revamping its entire heavy truck range, leveraging Volvo group's technological support and Eicher's frugal engineering and local expertise. VECV's new range of heavy trucks, incorporating contemporary designs, value-added features, new range of engines, cabins and engine management systems, among others, will be introduced from 2013-end and is likely to be priced at a premium to the current range.

VECV has set a target to achieve truck and bus sales of about 100,000 units and capturing about 15 per cent in heavy truck segment by 2015. From next year, VECV's heavy trucks will sport new engines while light and medium duty will continue with an upgraded engine from existing platform.

"Relatively newer players in the MHCV goods segment are gaining market share and are likely to grow at a faster clip. VECV gained 160 bps in market share during April-September to 12.1%," said another analyst.

Moreover, unlike other new entrants, Eicher is already a well established brand in the Indian CV industry through its light and medium segment and enjoys strong brand equity. It holds close to 30% share in the 5-14 tonnes segment," said a truck industry observer.

Though present market conditions are sluggish, VECV has been able to improve its market share across segments, particularly in the bus and HCV segments. In specific product categories within the heavy-duty segment, VECV attained higher market share, close to 10 per cent in 4x2 tipper truck segment in CY11 compared with 2.8% in CY09.

During January-November, its heavy trucks sales were up 9.5% at 7,021 units compared with previous period, while industry has been witnessing significant drop in sales on the back of economic slowdown.

"The economic slowdown may have some impact on our performance, but our objective is to do better than industry and we will try to maintain that," Vinod Aggarwal, chief executive officer, VECV had told adding, "Our heavy-duty market expansion is planned in a more scientific manner. We will ensure that all necessary support services are available before rolling out trucks. We are still not in the entire country for heavy truck presence, but will executive our expansion to more locations through a well-planned strategy."