Radel – Total Automotive Solutions is the latest entrant into the highly competitive garage equipment industry in India. An offshoot company of Deluxe Traders, a Bangalore-based distributor of service and repair equipment and tools for over 25 years, Radel will offer service equipment from leading global brands for heavy commercial vehicles and four-wheelers in the Indian market. Deluxe Traders has over 30 years of experience in the two-wheeler industry as it remains an authorised vendor for Hero Motocorp, Bajaj, TVS, Royal Enfield and recently added Honda scooters and motorcycles to the list.
Radel’s product range includes professional hand tools, wheel alignment, wheel balancing and tyre changing solutions, thus providing total workshop and garage solutions for two-wheelers, four-wheelers, HCVs and OEMs. It deals with good quality and highly reliable tools from leading brands and garage equipment from renowned global manufacturers namely Butler from Italy and Dunlop and Bradbury from U.K.
Radel offers all the necessary tools and equipment in a vehicle service station like two-post lifts, tools, aligners, balancers and tyre changers. In the near future, it intends to market body shop units too after gaining the right amount of expertise and with due research in the field.
Though the concepts of wheel balancing and wheel alignment have not really caught up in the HCV segment yet in India, the entry of multinational players like Volvo, Scania and MAN is rapidly changing the scenario. And the fact that the fuel efficiency improves with better alignment of tyres is yet another reason for Radel to enter the fast-growing segment. The three brands Dunlop, Butler and Bradbury have in their range a complete set of wheel aligners, wheel balancers and tyre changing solutions to cater to this segment. However, as proper training and expertise are necessary to handle and maintain such branded products, Radel is gearing up for training its technicians to meet the requirements.
The company also markets storage solutions from Snap-On and a complete package of pneumatic tools, screw compressors and aluminium pipe lining system from Chicago Pneumatic (CP), one of the market leaders in the field. Considering the fact that screw air compressors are more efficient and cost-effective than reciprocating compressors, it markets the product on a wider scale in all segments.
In the Indian CV segment, Radel is looking to make inroads into Swedish giants Scania and Volvo on the wheel alignment side, providing them options and possibilities of inculcating an alignment system into their workshops.
Radel is in talks with Ashok Leyland for offering wheel alignment solutions for the home-grown CV manufacturer’s HCVs. Similarly, it is also in talks with fleet operators such as VRL Logistics with a view of explicating the huge cost savings that proper tyre alignment would reflect on their voluminous fleet size.
“We offer a one-stop-shop solution, starting with south India, followed by the rest of the country. We have already offered a complete solution for some Nissan and Toyota dealers in Mysore and Bangalore respectively”, says Mr. Omar Tauseef, Managing Partner, Radel.
Anticipating a much higher demand for quality workshop equipment in the country, the company is keen on expanding its assembling facility at Bangalore. In order to benefit from significant tax reductions, it imports products as CKDs rather than CBUs, which would be assembled at its plant at Kanakpura Road in Bangalore. Although its base operations sprout from its home turf in south India, the company also successfully markets its products across the length and breadth of the country. Currently, it is scouting for channel partners mainly to support its marketing operations in the northern parts of the country.