Asia Motor Works (AMW) India’s third largest commercial vehicle maker plans to launch its first luxury bus in fourth quarter in India. AMW showcased its Magnus, new luxury inter-city bus at the 2012 Auto Expo and elicited a very positive response from visitors and prospective customers. At 14.2 metres it is one of the longest buses in India. The company was to launch the vehicle in September, as announced at Auto Expo 2012 in January, but now have postponed the launch to Q4.
“The luxury bus is likely to hit the road in the January-March quarter,” AMW managing director Aniruddh Bhuwalka said. The 1,000 unit-a-year high-end luxury bus market is still in nascent stage, growing almost at 10-15 percent annually and dominated by players such Volvo, Merc, Bhuwalka said, adding that AMW, India’s youngest commercial truck-maker, would strife to corner a decent pie out of this volume.
On the pricing end the AMW buses will be much cheaper than Volvo or Merc which are priced at Rs 1 crore. “The pricing will be in line with our philosophy of providing world class product at a competitive price.”
AMW has its manufacturing facility at Bhuj in Gujarat, also plans to toll out 6-8 models this fiscal as a step further to enhance its market share.
