Greaves Cotton pitches indigenous tech for Light Commercial Vehicles

Engine maker Greaves Cotton is looking to leverage its home-grown technologies to grow its business in the three- and four-wheeler segments, said Prabhakar Dev, managing director & chief executive of the company.

He said the company — and the country — were now less dependent on western technologies for engines.

“It’s also for this reason that we are so large in the small vehicle space.”

As light commercial vehicles  (LCVs) are not very popular in the West, the technology for such vehicles has evolved more in India.

In an interview with DNA, Dev said the company’s G series of engines has been designed and developed entirely in India.

“They go up to 200 horsepower (hp) and could be adopted for automotive use, but are designed for industrial purposes.”

The LCV market in India is growing (it registered a growth of 26% in January) and was the only segment to record growth during the economic downturn as well.

Greaves Cotton aims to make the most of this growing segment. “The tonnage in the

LCV market is gradually moving upwards from 0.5 tonne. We are developing engines that will cater to this upward shift. Our engines are also capable for bus segment application,” Dev added.

The company which developed its first engine almost 20 years ago has 140 engineers working at its three research & development centres in Aurangabad, Pune and Gummidipundi near Chennai. Dev did not reveal the company’s annual R&D expenditure.

He said most auto manufacturers, especially carmakers, develop their own engines.

“But there has been a change. Now you find a Fiat engine in five different vehicles. And the other reason is that the demand in India is growing,” he said.
Greaves Cotton is open to supplying engines for passenger application as well if the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are willing to work with it.

The company is also banking on the fact that engine development, at 3-4 years, could take longer than the development of a car so auto OEMs can cut short the development time by sourcing engines from companies like Greaves Cotton.
Greaves Cotton will roll out its three millionth auto engine by mid-2012, according to Thomas Furtado, group general manager, marketing services.

“The timespan is becoming shorter for every subsequent millionth engine. It took us 27 years to sell a million engines by 2004, the second million happened in 2009 and the third million will take about three-and-a-half years,” he said.
Furtado said that about 80% of diesel-run three-wheelers in the country are powered by Greaves Cotton engines.

The 151-year-old company makes about 5 lakh engines a year, including 3 lakh auto engines.

It also produces industrial engines, gensets, pumpsets and power tillers. The engines range from 1.4 hp to 750 hp.

Engines contribute 85% to the company’s topline, with the rest coming from construction equipment like concrete mixers and concrete pumps.
Auto engines are responsible for over half of the company’s turnover.

It has nine manufacturing facilities, of which the three in Aurangabad and one in Ranipet are used to manufacture auto engines.
One of the focus areas now for the company is to earn back its leadership position in trawler engines.

“In the ‘70s and ‘80s we dominated the market. Almost every trawler had a Greaves engine. Then our share dropped to almost zero. Now, we are slowly getting back into it,” Furtado said.

The company’s fortunes took a turn for the worse in the late ‘90s. “Greaves witnessed a slowdown of demand for most of its products due to recessionary trends in the industry and credit squeeze in the market. The company was also reeling under a heavy debt burden,” Dev said.

The company turned itself around in 2003-04 by focusing on its core competencies of engines and construction equipment and is now debt-free.