Alcoa Wheel and Transportation Products (AWTP), a business unit of Alcoa Inc., made its entry into the Indian market three years ago. Since then, the company has been focused on getting a foothold in the Indian commercial vehicle market using its global leadership in aluminium wheels. Alcoa has been responsible for establishing the aluminium wheel market across the globe and its products, known for excellent quality and reliability, offer the advantage of reducing the tare weight of the vehicle.
In India, AWTP has a distributor in Mumbai, in addition to seven dealers across the country, with Mr. Janardhanan Iyer, Regional Sales Manager – India, in charge of local operations. Currently, Alcoa is focused on expanding its presence in the bus and tanker segments in India, where there is huge potential for reducing vehicle weight and offering other benefits to customers.
Globally, Alcoa works with leading vehicle manufacturers including Volvo, Scania and Daimler, all of whom have entered the Indian market for the long term. Alcoa considers it a commitment to be present in all the markets in which its global partners operate. In the Indian market, Alcoa waits for stricter legislation to be implemented, especially against overloading. Alcoa Aluminium wheels can potentially reduce the tare weight of the vehicle by approximately one tonne, however, under overloaded conditions, it makes no difference at all.
Says Mr. Ross Simmons, General Manager, Sales/Technical Alcoa Wheel Products (AWP) Australia, Asia & NZ: “Alcoa believes in the Indian economy and that is why we have made a commitment here in terms of time and money. We need to be patient and we will be, as we analyze the market so that we could offer it our best when it is ready. When it comes to overloading, we are completely against it because Alcoa’s number one core value is safety. We will do all it takes to reduce the problem of overloading in India”.
The current Indian overloading scenario was prevalent in China a few years back, but it has completely changed following the government’s stringent measures, which in turn paved the way for a surge in demand for aluminium wheels. With increasing infrastructure spend on the development of highways in India, the future looks brighter than the present, as one hopes for the ban on overloading to be strictly enforced.
Another trend which would benefit the likes of Alcoa is the tubeless radialization of tyres. Though the penetration of tubeless tyres in the Indian market is currently less than 0.1 per cent, with rising market maturity, the number is expected to grow in the coming years. “In India, the rate of adoption of new technology is very quick. We are confident that the percentage of tubeless radialization will increase quickly. Also, the entry of next generation fleet operators who are willing to understand and experiment will definitely hasten the adoption of new and innovative products, technologies and solutions in the market”, says Mr. Janardhanan Iyer.
In the Chinese market, Alcoa has done extremely well in recent years. Following its entry into China in 2004, Alcoa now has a manufacturing facility in the country, catering to the needs of leading vehicle manufacturers in the market. Recently, Alcoa Aluminum Wheels was presented the Accessory of the Year Award in the category of Best Safety and Energy Savings for the contributions of its forged aluminum wheels to China’s bus manufacturing industry. The award was presented by Chinese trade publications CNbuses.com and shangyongqiche.com, with the support of the China Tourism News.
“We have been supplying Alcoa forged aluminum wheels to the Chinese bus market for nearly a decade,” said Mr. Tim Myers, President, Alcoa Wheel and Transportation Products. “This award acknowledges the important role our lightweight, durable wheels play in helping improve the performance and efficiency of commercial vehicles throughout China.”
Alcoa Wheel Products was also awarded the Innovation Award for Technology Progress, Low-carbon Economy and Harmonious Society (China) 2012 in the light-weighting technology category. The awards were organized by Automobile & Parts and Orient Auto magazines along with www.oauto.com website.
Commenting on being honored with two awards, Mr. Ross Simmons says: “We have made a financial commitment to China, we have put in a lot of work and recently we have supported that with a facility and employed Chinese people to cater to Chinese OEMs. These awards are recognition for our efforts in the Chinese market.”