BATU CAVES, Sept 22 — DRB-HICOM Commercial Vehicles Sdn Bhd (DHCV), a wholly-owned unit of DRB-HICOM Bhd, targets to sell 300 units of three new Tata vehicle models by the financial year ending March 31, 2016 (FY2016).

DRB-HICOM Head of Operations, Automotive Distribution and Manufacturing, Datuk Hisham Othman, said the new models are the Tata Xenon pick-up, Tata Ultra 512 and Tata Prima launched in January 2015.

DHCV has been appointed exclusive distributor of Tata commercial vehicles to revive the Indian brand in the Malaysian market.

“The demand for the new models increases each day. With one per cent market share, we will focus on brand awareness first and then we believe market share will increase,” he told reporters after a media familiarisation visit to the DHCV 3S (sales, services and spare-parts) centre here today.

He said DRB-HICOM has invested RM10 million to ready the plant in Pahang, which will create jobs fior locals as well as ensure Tata vehicles have sufficient local content.

“We also expect to increase the local content to 40 per cent in the long run,” he said, adding most of the components and parts are currently imported from India, with transactions done in the US dollar.

“With the current economic situation and weakening ringgit, we have taken some measures including a hedging mechanism, to ensure that we are not heavily affected,” he added.

Meanwhile, DHCV Acting Chief Operating Officer Mohd Syahrul Yusuf said the RM2.5 million 3S centre is expected to contribute positively to the company’s FY performance particularly from after-sales services to make up the shortfall.

For the first quarter ended June 30, 2015, DRB-HICOM posted a lower pre-tax profit of RM16.6 million from RM185 million and its revenue declined by 20.8 per cent to RM2.9 billion from RM3.7 billion previously.

“We see a lot of opportunities from after-sales service as well as new Tata vehicle sales despite the current economic situation,” he said.

He said the 30,000 sq. ft. centre is equipped with a showroom, 12 service bays as well as Tata Motors’ latest diagnostic equipment and spare parts.

“DHCV also targets to have 20 3S centres throughout Malaysia by mid-2016 and to date we have appointed seven dealers nationwide,” he said. — Bernama