Indian Army is going to get a new fleet of vehicles to ride in. Tata Safari Storme and Mahindra Scorpio, the two Indian-born players have cleared all the trails to participate in Indian Army tenders, as per reports. The army is expected to shortly invite both companies to bid in a tender to supply vehicles under a contract that could be worth as much as Rs 500 crore to Rs 750 crore.
So far, the Army has relied on Maruti Suzuki's Gypsy and the Mahindra Commander which have a maximum payload of 500 kg. But now it is in search of vehicles with hard top and 800 kg payload with an air-conditioning option. Since the Gypsy qualified under the GS500 category, it wasn't part of the GS800 category. So the army invited about 15 companies including Ford, Honda and Toyota two-three years ago, but after the initial discussions, only the two home-grown models, Tata MotorsBSE -1.38 % and Mahindra & Mahindra, qualified for the next round.
Head of defence and government business at Tata Motors, Vernon Noronha, said the company has received the acknowledgement from the Army that the Storme has passed the test and the company can now bid in a tender. Pravin Shah, CEO of Mahindra's automotive division, is also hopeful of getting new orders since the Scorpio has now qualified the tests.
The Army is expected to invite bids within a month for 3,249 vehicles in the first year, with an option to increase the order by more than 50%, industry executives said. Army and government officials are not available to comment. While India’s automobile market is fluctuating with many ups and downs, the expected army order is a great boon for both companies. When asked, the companies said that it is more of a prestige issue.
Though Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra will develop the vehicles for the Army on their existing platforms, they are designed to meet the requirement of the Army such as black out lights, convoy lamps, with provisions for water and ammo. After completing the technical evaluation, the vehicles were put under various field trials including technical and maintainability trials in different weather conditions and terrains.
Recently, the army ordered 4,100 units of the Gypsy, the biggest order for the car since Maruti started supplying it in 1991. It is unclear whether the army would still increase the number of vehicles under the GS500 category.
