The JBM group launched its first low floor bus called CityLife designed for intra-city travel in India at the Auto Expo earlier this year. What has been the motivation and market analysis that prompted you to enter this segment?
Our latest foray into bus manufacturing focuses on creating a niche segment in the intra-city public transportation domain and aims at providing luxury, comfort and safety by way of our product. We have extensively worked towards understanding the requirements of this product category and have also studied similar products that are being used globally.
We feel that a big opportunity lies in this segment and can be catered to with the introduction of the right kind of product. We are also very bullish about various urbanisation schemes where in the Government shall spend over US$20 billion over the next seven years to transport modernisation. Getting into full-fledged vehicle manufacturing is a natural progression for us as JBM Group has already been doing contract manufacturing over the years for various renowned OEMs in the country.
The market is already crowded with a mix of Indian and international OEMs in this category. How will you differentiate your offering?
Our bus CityLife has been designed keeping in mind Indian traffic and weather conditions, usage pattern of the travellers and expectations of the consumers for an improved product. We have introduced some very unique features in the bus that are first of a kind in the Citybus category.
For example, passengers complain about stubbing their toes on rods of the seats, hence the bus has cantilever seats and armrests, ensuring more room for standing passengers and also extra luggage space below the seats; wheelchair ramp, kneeling facility, Stop request button, etc.
Other unique features include a monocoque structure to ensure maximum strength and minimum weight, matching European standards for safety in case of front/side collision and rollover accidents. Additional safety is provided through five large diameter detachable cylinders with an automatic valve close in case of leakage.
How competitively is your bus priced and by when will we see it running on the roads?
In the bus category, the final price is determined depending on the specific requirements of the customer with regard to the features, engine type, customisation, and so on.
We are targeting three primary segments in the initial phase i.e. Citybus segment, airport/airlines segment and schools. Under each category we will roll out standard and premium buses available in CNG and Diesel powertrains. All pricing shall be at par with the prevailing market rates of similar products.
