Further, the year 2007-08 will be an year of new launches and new initiatives for the company. Besides a slew of new launches, TVS-M’s two new plants at Himachal Pradesh and Indonesia are also set to go on stream next fiscal.

“We have come out with ‘Star Sport’ to cater to that segment of customers, who were looking for more style in Star. While the Star variants at present have a market share of 10%, among all categories put together, we expect this to increase to 13%, with the launch of ‘Star Sport,” Mr K N Radhakrishnan, president, TVS-M told a press conference here on Monday.

Within the ‘entry-level’ segment, the Star variants command a 26% market share. “We hope to get market leadership in the entry level segment, with the launch of ‘Star Sport’ and we expect the market share to increase to 35%, from the present 26%,” Mr Radhakrishnan said.

He agreed that the launch of yet another variant of Star, may result in eating into the sales of some of the other models from the company. “There could be cannibalisation to the tune of around 10%. But, then the move launch a more stylish Star is for a set of customers, who were keen to buy a Star if it offered more style, alongwith its existing qualities,” he said.

While the basic variant of ‘Star Sport’ has been priced at Rs 33,990 (ex-showroom Chennai), the premium variant of the new model will carry a price tag of Rs 35,490 (ex-showroom Chennai). Nearly 75% of TVS-M’s motorcycle sales comes from the Star variants, with another 15% – 20% coming from Apache and the Victor series contributing the rest.

According to him, the financial year 2007-08 will be an year for new launches and new initiatives. “Our plant in Himachal Pradesh will go operational in April this year, even while the company’s first overseas plant in Indonesia, is expected to do the same in May. We will also be launching a new Apache, a three-wheeler in August, and a new Victor during 2007-08,” Mr Radhakrishnan said.

The move to launch a new Victor, re-inforces the fact that the company needs an aggressive model in the segment to influence market share. “Nearly 50% of all the two-wheelers sold are from the executive segment, where we have just about 5%-7% share. The new product will help us increase our numbers significantly in this segment,” he said.