TVS Lanka races to over Rs. 1 b monthly revenue league

• Achieves revenue growth of Rs. 2.7 b in FY 2014/15; profit up by three times

TVS Lanka Chief Executive Officer Ravi Liyanage

TVS Lanka, a premier automotive company in the country specialising in motor cycles, scooters, three wheelers, spare parts and lubricant business, has recorded a ground-breaking performance surpassing all key performance indicators significantly during the financial year of 2014/2015.

“The 2014/15 performance was very significant and in fact a major turnaround with Rs. 2.7 billion revenue growth which accounts to 60% growth over previous year. PBT has grown even more profoundly by three times over the corresponding year. In fact the company has now entered into the league of over Rs. 1 billion revenue per month in the new financial year. Further, with this turnaround performance main product lines, both two wheelers and three wheelers, have contributed almost equally, making the business model more sustainable,” said TVS Lanka Chief Executive Officer Ravi Liyanage.

“Very focused strategic initiatives deployed during the year reaped rich rewards. Repositioning and rationalisation of product portfolio, identifying and targeting strategic market segments, re-launching of five promising new models with new value proposition for better consumer engagement, productivity enhancement and expansion of dealer network, re-structuring of island-wide service and spare parts network, competency enhancement of staff and sales force in particular, process re-engineering and customer relationship management to enhance net promoters’ score from the existing users paid dividends during the period under review,” added Liyanage. 

Service is pursued as one of the key competitive advantages behind the brand TVS and island wide service network and spare part network for both two wheelers and three wheelers had been expanded and developed to reach both number and high quality. Two wheeler service/spare parts network represents 645 and three wheeler service/spare parts network 570.

To enhance service quality TVS also has been partnering with the Vocational Training Institute of Sri Lanka on a regular basis to train their instructors and develop skills and competencies of potential technical professionals they produce to the automobile sector that TVS represents.

“Innovative five new product launches had gained overwhelming consumer response. These new entries includes; probably Sri Lanka’s most stylish Scooter TVS Scooty Zest 110cc with state-of-the-art technology such as Econo power meter, telescopic suspension, more spacious, tubeless tires, easy centre stand, LED break light and with four colour variations. TVS Metro 110cc bike to up-scale the entry category, TVS KING Fully Loaded (FLD) with 35 customised modifications, TVS King Max – the first Sri Lanka’s fibre hooded and made out of fiberglass reinforced plastic in which the final product is environmentally-friendly, TVS King Fun Bread (FB) to empower SMEs in Sri Lanka,” said TVSL Head of Marketing Hashan Haputhanthri.

TVS Motor Company, the flagship of 100 years old, over $ 7.2 billion TVS Group, is one of India’s leading two wheeler manufactures and among the top seven in the world. The company has three manufacturing plants in India and one in Indonesia. Present in over 57 countries worldwide, TVS Motor Company is renowned for innovation and currently owns 600+ patents.

TVS Motor Company has the unique distinction within automotive Industry, being only two wheeler manufacturer to have been awarded the prestigious Deming Award in 2002. TVS Motor Company is the only Indian automobile company which won the prestigious Deming Award.

The Deming Award is a global quality award that recognises both corporates and individuals for their contributions to the field of Total Quality Management (TQM) and businesses that have successfully implemented TQM. 

TVS King Three Wheeler has captured the attention as the innovator in the category. TVS King with a view to promote its innovativeness, performance, style and efficiency signed with the “King of Cricket”, Kumar Sangakkara during the financial year under review.

The three wheeler industry has a history of more than three decades in Sri Lanka and approximately about 700,000 three wheelers on the road. This has already become an Integral mode of transportation in the county. TVS Lanka is committed to provide innovative, most technologically advanced, fuel efficient, spacious, comfortable and safest automobiles to this category. 

TVS King has gained swift recognition in this business domain and penetrated a sizeable share and is now well poised to extend their presence even better to all parts of Sri Lanka. In view of this, the most respected and world renowned cricket icon Kumar Sangakkara, joined hands with TVS to enhance the brand equity of TVS King. 

Being the first-ever three wheeler to be fitted with a 200 cc four stroke engine, TVS King has been very well accepted in every part of the country for its performance and fuel efficiency.

Prior to its arrival, for 30 years, the Sri Lankan three wheeler owners and the passengers both had to be content with the same stagnant product and features with very little value addition or product improvements. TVS King was developed after extensive field research both in Sri Lanka and India; hence it brought in an array of new features and benefits for the Sri Lankan three wheeler owners and passengers.

Single large windshield, twin head lamps with multi reflectors, dashboard with indicators, magazine and water bottle holders were some of the features that were first introduced to the Sri Lankan market by TVS King. Today these features have become standard features looked for in any three wheeler, thus benefiting every new three wheeler customer in the island. Consumer choice is changing with the infrastructure development in the country and the walk to be the ‘Wonder of Asia’. 

TVS King is the best fit for Sri Lanka’s developed road network. Consumers need “comfortable and safe transportation” not just “transportation”. Consumers look for quality, safety and comfort. TVS King provides this. 

Consumers who drive a TVS King relate that the experience is no longer like a three-wheeler but “as a car” this is due to un-parallel comfort, safety and spaciousness. Commuting public has the biggest advantage of travelling in the safest three wheeler in Sri Lanka which is designed for safety with its unique crash bar, crash zone and single chassis concept. This is nonexistence in other three wheelers.

TVS Lanka is the pioneer and the technological leader in the scooter market with a large array of scooters; Scooty Pep, Scooty Streak, WEGO and Jupiter which is the latest addition. 

Scooty Pep was the first to launch in the country and has a tremendous growth in sales. The new gen Scooty pep+ is for that “bubbly teenage girl who is around 19 years”. Scooty Pep+ is economical, easy to maintain/handle and fashionable. Available in various colours of your choice. Scooty Pep+ is considered as the entry scoter since it has a 90cc engine but with a host of features like Eazy centre stand, econometer, mobile charger apart from being the best fuel efficient scooter with 65 KMPL. 

Scooty Streak has perceived as the trendy scooter in the country and it is for unisex usage. Ridden by 24-year-old male or a female. It is economical, easy to use, look bigger in size apart from innovative features like external fuel tank and LED tail lamps. This is also built on a 90cc engine platform and with these two scooters in the portfolio TVS Lanka is the market leader in the 90cc easy to use category. 

TVS WEGO has perceived as the most modern unisex scooter in the country. It is for extreme unisex usage and ridden by both male and female who are around 25 years of age and more rugged in nature, could be used in all terrains. The new Wego boasts body balance technology which makes manoeuvrability easy in touch traffic conditions. Its 110cc CVT-i engine gives best in class mileage and comes with digital speedometer.

TVS Jupiter has been perceived in the mind of a Sri Lankan as the “Scooter for the executive” is lifestyle-led, manlier, big in size, smart and male attitude driven. Usage wise it’s for more office/professionals. This is for a 24-year-old young executive. Features like largest front leg space, brightest headlamp and unique pass by switch provides added benefits to customers.

In the motor bike category Apache being the flagship brand has been receiving overwhelming user confidence for its unique style and unmatched performance. Apache RTR, Metro, XL SUPER, and Phoenix are the brands in the main stream of the two-wheeler category.

TVS Metro is the longest run bike in the Asia; when it gets one litre of petrol, it will run for 87km. This is according to ARIA India reports. TVS Metro also perceived in Sri Lanka as the entry bike for the youth and specifically targeted to a young executive. Features like 100 cc Dura life engine, powerful electric start with stylish alloy wheels has been the USP of TVS Metro.