Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Eicher Motors Q3 FY 2026 Earnings Conference Call, hosted by HDFC Securities Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I hand the conference over to Hitesh Thakurani from HDFC Securities Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Yeah. Thank you, Ikra. Good evening, everyone. This is Hitesh Thakurani from HDFC Securities. Appreciate everyone logging into this 3Q FY26 earnings call of Eicher Motors. From the management team, I'm pleased to host Mr. Vinod Aggarwal, Vice Chairman, Eicher Motors Limited, MD and CEO, VE Commercial Vehicles Limited; Mr. B. Govindarajan, MD, Eicher Motors Limited, and CEO, Royal Enfield; and Ms. Vidya Srinivasan, CFO, Eicher Motors Limited. I'll now hand over the call to Mr. B. Govindarajan, for his opening remarks, and post which we will begin the Q&A. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Hitesh. Hello, and good evening, everyone. Happy New Year. Hope it has been a good start to 2026. Thank you for joining us today at the Eicher Motors Limited earnings call for the quarter ended December 31st, 2025. December marked the close of a significant year for Eicher, one that saw consistent performance across our businesses, important milestones for Royal Enfield, and continuous progress at VE Commercial Vehicles, too. The third quarter was shaped by launches, events, and community-led initiatives, and we continue to witness high customer confidence and trust in our brands. Before we move into the detailed business updates for Royal Enfield and VECV, I'll begin with a broad summary of the overall financials.
EML consolidated financials for the third quarter FY 2025-2026, our revenue for Q3 is at about INR 6,114 crore, marking a growth of 23% over INR 4,973 crore from Q3 last year. EBITDA stands at about INR 1,557 crore, marking a growth of 30% over INR 1,201 crore in Q3 last year. At one INR 2,421 crores, up by 21% from INR 1,171 crores in Q3 last year. Please note that PAT includes share of profits from VECV, which for Q3 stood at about INR 183 crore. This strong performance was a result of an all-round growth, both at Royal Enfield and VECV. Let me begin with the business highlights for Royal Enfield.
This quarter was yet another robust one for Royal Enfield, continuing our steady growth journey of the past six quarters. The third quarter of this fiscal year saw a robust volume growth, strong festive demand, and meaningful progress across our products and community-led initiatives. What made it even more special was the commencement of our 125th year celebration, a milestone that reflects the strength of our legacy while reinforcing our commitment to shaping the future of pure motorcycling. At the core, it's our community that continues to be part and heart of everything what we do. Motoverse this year was bigger and bolder than ever, welcoming a record of 40,000+ people over the three days event. We also took another step in expanding our cultural footprint beyond the motorcycling community, with the second edition of Journeying Across the Himalayas, which grew in scale, depth and impact.
Across both domestic and international markets, we saw a very healthy momentum driven by refreshed products, global showcases, and continued engagement with our riders. This collective effort helped us cross the milestone of 1 million motorcycles year to date, much before the close of this financial year, a moment that truly belongs to our teams, partners, and our riding community across the globe. Coming to the volumes, during this quarter, we sold 325,773 motorcycles, with a growth of 21%, as against 269,039 motorcycles in Q3 FY 2025. Out of this, in India, we sold about 304,026 motorcycles, with a 24% growth from the last year.
We continued to gain market share across board, particularly in the mid-sized motorcycle segment, where Royal Enfield has been able to continue its dominance at 88.9% exit market share. Domestic sale remained healthy across all three months with a double-digit growth, supporting strong year-to-date growth, driven by sustained retail traction. The festive season was a strong one for Royal Enfield, with customer enthusiasm translating into a robust demand across markets. We delivered over best ever festive performance, selling over 249,000 motorcycles during September and October. Our focused strategy, combined with a strong product portfolio, marketing activations, have really helped us deepen our presence in the market in this quarter. Coming to the international markets, our volumes stood at about 25,347 units versus 27,000 units in Q3 last year.
We continued to maintain a strong growth momentum in retail volume across international markets like Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand. Product momentum was further strengthened with the launch of the refreshed Hunter 350 and the Scram 440 in Nepal, Bear 650 in Argentina, and Guerrilla 450 in Brazil to resonate with the young urban riders. The first Royal Enfield exclusive store opened in Lima, Peru, in December 2025. At EICMA this year, Royal Enfield marked an important milestone as we entered our 125th year of pure motorcycling. The showcase reflected our journey and vision, bringing together our heritage with a clear view of the future.
We presented several key motorcycles, including the special edition of Classic 650, the new Bullet 650, the Himalayan 450 Hanle Black, Shotgun 650 with Rough Crafts collaboration, a limited edition, and the Flying Flea S6 on our electric platform, which together highlight our approach to design, capability, and innovation. The response from the riders and enthusiasts globally has been encouraging and deeply motivating for the team. At Motoverse, we launched the Meteor 350 Sundowner special edition, celebrating a global Meteor community that now exceeds 500,000 riders. Beyond motorcycle, we continue to strengthen our pure motorcycling ecosystem with meaningful cultures and collaborations. This included a unique partnership with Royal Albert Hall in London, and a composer, Rushil Ranjan, for The Allure of the Bullet, the official campaign film marking the launch of new Royal Enfield Bullet 650.
We also expanded our lifestyle and apparel offering with Royal Enfield Vallon, Moto Aviators, collaborations in new lifestyle eyewear range, which is premium add-on for riders who see their glasses as part of their motorcycling kits on an everyday life. We continue to create memorable riding experiences for our community. We concluded the 2025 edition of Motoverse in Goa with, as I mentioned, 40,000+ riders over the three days, with builders, artists, musicians, and explorers coming together from across the globe in celebration of a motorcycling culture. We also concluded the season five of Continental GT Cup, strengthening our presence in grassroots racing and performance-led motorcycling. The edition drew over 6,000 registrations, marking a sharp increase since last year, and this year we have gone to eight cities, to have this Continental GT Cup celebration.
Alongside competitive motorsport, rider-led journeys and community rides continued across regions, including Bhutan and Sikkim, reinforcing our belief that shared experiences and camaraderie are the heart of pure motorcycling. To improve ease of purchase, we announced a partnership with Amazon India, enabling customers in select cities to buy Royal Enfield motorcycles online through seamless end-to-end digital journey for the 350 cc range. This comes after the successful tie-up with Flipkart. We continue to be one of the top automakers across the leading ESG ratings. Currently, 93% of our electricity consumed across our facilities is green electricity. We achieved 80% reduction in emissions intensity in our operations, scope 1 and 2. Our net water positive continued to be strong at 4.6 on the water balance index.
Through the Royal Enfield Social Mission, we have recently concluded the second edition of Journeying Across the Himalayas, a week-long multidisciplinary festival focused on celebrating and safeguarding the cultural and the natural heritage of that region. Launched the Great Himalayan Exploration with UNESCO, reaffirming our long-term commitment to cultural preservations, responsible tourism, and community-led engagement. Now on CapEx. Lastly, as you would have seen in our results, EML board has just approved a proposal for capacity expansion at Royal Enfield. This will be achieved through a brownfield expansion at Cheyyar manufacturing facility at Tamil Nadu, taking our annual production capacity to 2 million units per year from the current 1.4 million, to meet the rapidly expanding and existing and the projected future demand. The project is aligned with our consistent growth focus and underscores our commitment to the evolving needs of our global community.
For this expansion, we will invest an estimate of almost INR 958 crore over a period of two years, reaching the target capacity by FY 2027-2028. By scaling our existing TR plant, we are ensuring a faster capacity ramp-up and cost-efficient operations. Now I will hand over to Mr. Aggarwal to talk you through the updates of the commercial vehicles. Over to you.
Thank you, Govin. I'm pleased to share that VECV has delivered its best ever third quarter performance, reinforcing our position as a resilient and future-ready CV player. India's macroeconomic environment remained supportive through Q3. Strong government CapEx in roads and infrastructure, GST and income tax reforms, and contained inflation helped improve customer confidence. With fiscal stability and continued policy support for domestic manufacturing, the commercial vehicle industry saw healthy momentum, heading into the second half of the year. Against this backdrop, VECV recorded Q3 volumes of 26,086 units, a 24.2% growth year-on-year, taking our YTD performance to 69,597 units, a growth of 13.2%. This marks our strongest ever quarter three.
We maintain number one position in LMD trucks with Q3 sales of 12,447 units, which is 28.3% growth year-on-year, and market share of 34.5%. The Pro Plus upgrades and uptime promise continue to drive per reference. Our heavy-duty trucks sales grew 14.9%, reaching 6,850 units in Q3, the best ever third quarter, supported by infrastructure execution and improved route economics. Bus sales were at 3,624 units, which were down 3.3% year-on-year on tender timing. Underlying market sentiments remains positive for the CSM.
In our parts business, both Eicher and Volvo combined, we recorded a robust growth of INR 810 crore, which is 14.4% year-on-year growth, aided by higher vehicle utilization and vehicle service penetration. Exports in Q3 were 2,056 units, which is 72.5% year-on-year growth on better traction in select markets. During the quarter, we advanced our strategy on portfolio readiness. We complemented our HCV entry with launch of Eicher Pro X diesel, worldwide new E449 X2 engine, focused on best-in-class efficiency, comfort, and uptime for city, near city logistics, and key applications in e-commerce, FMCG, cold chain, fresh produce, and courier. Our network footprint crossed 1,150+ touchpoints, with continued east market focus, container support across 14 highways, 13 new service sites in Q3, and 20 operational Pro X setups.
Whereas letters of intent we have given for another 21 units, 21 setups, now servicing 21,500+ vehicles nationwide. Throughout the quarter, pricing discipline, operating leverage, and cost reductions supported margin growth. Coming to VECV financial performance, we continue to improve financial strength with profitable growth. Our revenues for Q3 are INR 7,019 crores against INR 5,801 crores last year. EBITDA for Q3 is INR 652 crores, as against INR 517 crores last year. EBITDA margin for Q3, 9.5%, against 9.2% last year. PAT for Q3, INR 338 crores, against INR 299 crores last year. The medium-term CV outlook remains constructive, supported by infrastructure development, stable financing, and domestic manufacturing push.
With future-ready products, expanding alternative energy portfolio and then service coverage, VEC is well poised for resilient growth. Thank you for being us, with us on the call today. We can now move to question and answer session.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. In order to ensure that the management will be able to address questions from all the participants in the conference, kindly limit your questions to two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, please rejoin the queue. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Chandramouli Muthiah from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening, and thank you for taking my questions. My first question is just around the margin performance. This appears to be the first time in almost five to six quarters, where we've seen sequential improvement in gross margin and sequential reduction in other expenses. I just want to understand what drove this, and also if you could elaborate a little bit on whether this could be a potential inflection point in your margin journey, given that over the past five to six quarters, we've built up a critical scale in volume, now potentially comfortably above 1 million units per annum, and what that means for value engineering and sourcing synergies.
Vidhya?
You know, yeah, I think, Chandramouli, you know, I've been kind of consistently talking about the same message from a margin standpoint. Okay, we in 2022, as you know, on the sidelines of the Hunter launch, we had pivoted to rebalance, and there we had talked about our focus on growing absolute volumes, absolute margins, and that's essentially what we've delivered. Since then, if I take the 12-quarter period, our volumes have grown by a CAGR of 14%, our revenues have grown by 18%, our gross profit by 20%, and our EBITDA by 22%. Okay, and therefore, you know, consistently, we've kind of looked at growth, and that's what, you know, the management is focused on delivering even as we go forward. So I think that is broadly, you know, the point that we wanted to leave.
Specifically, if you look at, you know, some of the impact, obviously, we've had a great quarter from a volume standpoint. So I think there are... I mean, we can get into the details, but I think this is a larger message that I wanted to leave you with.
Yep. Got it. Got it. Is this specifically comment on, on what drove, the margin improvement, at a gross margin level, and then also what, what drove some of the other expenses control, in this quarter?
Yeah. I think versus, if you take other income from a—I mean, it's literally a bit of timing also, which is coming in through, because we've had timing of spend in different quarters. So I'm, but, you know, we can get into more detail as we, you know, separately. There is an operating leverage, which is also kicking in, right? And I think some marketing spends, we've had more spend in the second quarter versus third quarter. So some of that is a timing piece. We've also had operating leverage as far as overheads are concerned. So all that is kicking in, as far as, other expenses are concerned.
Primarily, number one is operating leverage, as Vidya was mentioning, and fiscal discipline on the expenses. In fact, even the marketing expenses, we have done ahead planning for this season, which has also helped us in looking at a unit benefit. Model mix has helped. VAVE has kicked in. So overall, it's been well executed profitability.
Got it. That's helpful. My second question is just on the capacity expansion that was announced. If you could help us understand what part of this would be focused on the 350 cc and sub-350 cc portfolio, which is where we've seen a meaningful pickup in demand over the past 12-18 months. And what part is sort of the 350 cc plus portfolio? And also, I think you've mentioned that this is going to be capacity expansion over an eight quarter period. So is it going to be sort of linear through that period, or do you expect it to be, you know, concentrated into certain points during that period?
So generally, first and foremost is, I think you are right. The 350 cc demand has gone up post the GST, thanks to the reduction. And the 450 cc and 650 cc had slightly come down, but the rate of recovery is better. We are happy about that. So for 450 cc and 650 cc, there is a capacity which is built, which is good enough, because currently the utilization is slightly lower. With the debottlenecking and bit of automations, we can cater into the coming year growth. And 350 cc, obviously, because during the festive time itself, compared to last year, we grew almost 50% with the higher base itself. So there is a demand for the 350 cc, which is continuing.
Back of it, today, we actually presented to the board about the CapEx requirement, which is there. The first design is Cheyyar, which is already existing place for us, so that's why it is a brownfield project. If you recall in last quarter when we were discussing, we also have gone ahead with one module for about INR 100 crore, which we have invested, to come out with some, capacity, additional requirement for the Q1 itself. So that is going to kick in now. And this investment, which we are doing in modules, will start kicking in, in various stages, depending upon the lead time. But it's all mapped to the peak requirement, which is required for the festive season. To that extent, all the other periods, the availability, will be better.
So over the period of time, though we have given almost about eight quarters time, it'll be slightly ahead, we will build the overall capacity to almost 2 million motorcycles.
Got it. That's helpful. I guess, lastly, if you could give us some color around E.U. trade deal and U.S. trade deal. These have in the past been important markets for the 450 and the 650 cc portfolio. So if you could just give us some color on how you are looking at these trade deals and what that represents for your business standpoint for.
So, let's go one by one. First is about the U.S., which you asked. Currently, it's almost about 50%, plus there was some speculation of higher taxations on this and that. With the latest trade deal which has been done, the rate is 18%. However, there is a steel and aluminum tariff that there is no clarity as of now. We are waiting for bit more clarity on that. With that, the weighted average tariff is almost about 41%-42% currently. If that goes off, mostly it will go off, that's what is we are expecting in the fine print, then it will become an 18% for us, which is a good sign. It will open up the market for us.
But the steel tariff, which is there, which is common for everybody, so whoever is importing into U.S., so that's a, it's a common denominator for all. As far as EMEA is concerned, currently we are at almost about 6% duty structure. Once again, the clarity is being sought. Mostly, that will also go off. It'll help us, to be accessible even in the Europe market. So that way, we are even waiting for the fine prints to be there available with us to get the full clarity. We are assuming directionally, as I mentioned, USA at 18%, EMEA knocking on 6%. That will be the scenario going on.
Got it. That's helpful. Thank you very much, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, please restrict yourselves to two questions. The next question is from the line of Kapil Singh from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, sir, and congratulations on a very strong performance. I just wanted your view on the industry growth, especially for premium industry. How are you thinking for Q4 and next year? And do you expect growth in the more than 350 cc portfolio also when you are looking at next year? Or do you need to take some actions there to come with lower engine cc options to drive growth in that segment? So just some thoughts there.
Yeah. So in Q4, we are. I'm expecting the growth momentum to continue. Queries are better, conversions are better, bookings are good. So there is a positive trend which is continuing. So Q4 also, we are positive that we will be growing more. Coming to the next year question, which you are talking about, I think the whole industry is looking at high single digit, that sort of the growth. And the premium segment will grow. We will continue to outgrow the market. That's our ambition. And with all the products which are getting lined up, and top of it, this is the 125th year of our brand, and there is going to be a mother brand marketing campaign, which will actually take our brand to a different level. And we also have products lined up for the coming year.
So with that, we are very, very optimistic that our growth will continue.
On the more than 350 cc portfolio, any comments?
More than 350 cc, even honestly, post the GST, there is a huge drop. Just pre-GST between August 15th to September 22nd, there is a lot of prepay which has taken place. So the numbers may be slightly skewing, but at pre, by post that, there is a, there was a huge drop. We have cost down whatever the, the GST rates which are there, we just went into the market as it is at about 40%. So the, the growth was dipping. It went as good as almost about 40%, but the rate of recovery of 650 cc started showing the positive sign within about a month's time, and 450 cc has started showing the rate of recovery now.
So with the Classic 650, which are launched, Bullet 650, which we have launched, now the inquiries for Classic 650 and Bullet 650 is also healthier. So that is also going to grow. We just finished the GT Cup, racing across about eight cities, which has really helped us to create a sort of an interest across. We launched the Hanle Black in the 450 cc, on the Himalayan platform. That has also induced the interest in the product. So overall, there is a positivism which I'm seeing in the inquiry level. Conversions are also coming up. That's why I said rate of recovery is better. Have we come to the same level, like the earlier time, pre-GST level? No. But are we seeing a traction that we are reaching there? Yes. 650 is faster and 450 is following that.
Okay, great. One question was on the gross margin. Just trying to understand what drove the improvement. If you could give some color on the commodity price movement for 3Q, and what is the outlook you are seeing for 4Q and same for pricing as well?
You want to add?
Yeah. So as far as gross margin is concerned, if I take the period from for this quarter versus the previous year same quarter, we've had increase in cost. So overall improvements in GC due to domestic model mix is about 0.6%. We've got 100 basis points on account of increase in cost due to owing to B norms. We've also had 70 basis points, which is a net impact of commodity inflation, which is offset by around 20 basis points, which is on account of value engineering, et cetera. So the cost increase largely is driven by the increase in precious metals, which we had aluminum as well as copper. Then we've also had about 40 basis points, which is impact of model, variant, geography, mix, et cetera.
But all of this is, has been offset by about 140 basis points, which is on account of price increases that we've taken in April as well as July on select models, on case-by-case basis. Yeah?
So it's, it's as Vidhya is mentioning, there is a price increase, which we have taken. April, one tranche, then in July, one tranche. Then, commodity inflation offset to some extent through the pricing increase, model mix, and, and that's what has actually driven the GC.
Yeah.
Any outlook for next quarter on the commodity?
Look, to an extent of commodities, it is not cooling off. Equally, I must say, it is not also heating up. So it is some weeks it's neutral, some weeks it's really shooting up. But there will be a bit of a pressure on the commodity for some more time. That's for sure. But we also have value engineering pipeline, which is kicking in continuous.
Okay. I assume no pricing changes have happened, right?
I think January, we've also taken some select models, so we are slowly looking at our entire portfolio. And obviously, as we've talked about it in the past also, we are not taking aggressive price increase and, you know, focus continues to be on growth. But wherever there we are finding significant sharp commodity movement, we are taking on a case-to-case basis. So yeah, that we have taken a bit in January as well.
Price increase, the discussions all, as we have been always saying, we are adding value back to the product, and that's why value for money, perceived value for money has to be good for Royal Enfield product. Everybody should want, desire to own one at an accessible price point. We are very cautious of it, so we will go accordingly, what is right at that point of time in price increases. But yes, in January also, we took a price increase on select models.
Okay. Thank you so much, and best wishes, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants are requested to limit their questions to two at a time. The next question is from the line of Gunjan from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my question. Just a quick follow-up to, you know, just on Kapil's question on the pricing hike. Is it possible for you to quantify what sort of increase we have taken? And also on the value engineering, did you mention 20 basis points year-on-year improvement that you've seen on that front? If you can just give us little bit more outlook on how do we think about value engineering. Is there, you know, is there a number that you can put that this is the sort of benefit that can come through with the scale that we are seeing on 350 cc platform?
Yeah. So as far as January price increase is concerned, we... I think I would, I would say a blended model in price increase of about 0.5%. And as far as value engineering is concerned, as we said, we've talked about 0.2%. It's very difficult to quantify exactly how it's going to pan out in the following quarters, because it really depends on what is going to get implemented in each quarter. So I wouldn't necessarily be able to, you know, guide to that extent. And in terms of what price increases we've taken last year, which is April and July, as I said, we've talked about 140 basis points that, you know, across both the, the thing across models, yeah.
... Got it. And this value engineering, understand no quantification, but directionally, can you share some qualitative thoughts around what is it? Is it the scale benefits? Is the sourcing benefits that you're seeing from the suppliers, or is it modular platforms? You know, some qualitative color will help in terms of directionally thinking that there is more cost lever, you know, to play out over the next few quarters.
So, yeah, Gunjan, one is the scale, which is a straight line equation. I mean, the scale comes in, we do get something. The second is, we also identified low-cost country sourcing, different places, in some of the electrical items. Along with stock, we are also trying to see, which country is better, why is it better, so we are also looking at that. The third element of the value engineering is as because the platforms, the J platform, K platform, P platform, are all very well matured now in all the products, with the Bullet being the last product I'll change over.
Now, the value engineering, we can be a bit more aggressive in terms of weight reductions, in terms of optimization, and in terms of the precious metal usage in the catalytic converters. All those are different projects which are done. The funnel is very healthy, and it all is under testing. So value engineering will keep kicking in at different point of time, but we'll be cautious in implementing it. Because when you're doing a higher volume, we don't want to have anything at the front end, having two different kind of a vehicle. So we have to be careful about it. So we will, we will time it accordingly, but the value engineering exercise is aggressively on.
Got it. If I can just ask last question on this cost bit. There used to be a huge intensity of precious metals after COVID, right? And you all were working to optimize the intensity, reduce where possible. Is it possible to share how much is precious as a percentage of either the total RM or net sales? Whatever way you can give us some sense.
We'll probably send it to you, Gunjan. I mean, I may not be having it immediately now, but I can tell you one thing is, precious metal, we mapped it for next, almost about four quarters, how it will be, based on what pre-buy which we can do, how much we can do that as a hedging away. So all those activities are started because we are expecting that to go slightly higher, but we are protecting, so that it is not hitting us as a headwind.
Got it. And just now shifting to exports, if you can, you know, if I look at the last few months of trend, as the base has caught up, we have clearly seen the growth also, you know, temper down a bit. Directionally, how should we think about export growth? Now, you've of course pointed out in past that there is end market weakness in some of the mature markets. But how do we think about growth? I know the FTA is really kick in, but that's still some time away, right? But more from, you know, next one year perspective, what sort of growth we should think through for this business?
As I always mention, international market for Royal Enfield has to be seen from a country by country. It can't be that one outside India, what is the business? If I have to tell you some, the markets which are developed markets, let's take USA. With all the confusions which is getting sorted out, probably once the tariff is coming to 18%, yes, we will see some growth, which is happening. The product like Bear 650, Super Meteor 650, and now the new products which are lined up, and the Himalayan, it has a very good reception in United States, as a whole. Because everybody are looking at only for these sort of motorcycles, which are very accessible at a sweet price point and the, this quality. So Royal Enfield factors there.
So there is a possibility for us to grow in that market once the market stabilizes. Let's talk about Europe and U.K., and especially. I must tell you, it's—it's, you know, internally, we call it as a market adjustment year. Probably, I will call it as a calibration year. Fundamentally, because OBD-IIB, the entire vehicles which were available, which I also caught in last meeting also, or the last call, is that there will be huge pre-buy and the registrations which will be there, which all will be available at the discounting, which we haven't done. But we are competing in a market which has a very huge discount because of the pre-registration vehicles. That's why I'm saying it's an year of calibration. We are consciously looking at how do we grow in that market.
Italy is doing well for us, so there is a focus on Hunterh ood and all those things in Italy. As well as the other market is about Latam. You know, Argentina and Colombia, the growth is continuing. Brazil is a north star. In fact, in Brazil, our Guerrilla got the Motorcycle of the Year. Himalayan won the Trail Bike of the Year, and we are number two position in the middleweight as of now. So we have been consistently growing, and I do see that's one such market which is going to really, really garner volume for us. We are going to have our own CKD with the assemblers, two assemblers, which we are doing. Now, we are consolidating. We will have our own CKD facility there soon.
So Brazil is one such big market, and we are, we are investing heavily in that market. APAC, it is so-so because Ireland last year, it had its own issues. Now we are seeing some amount of a growth, which is there. SAARC is another one area. The terrain is very good. That's why first, the basics have to be set right in that area, especially Bangladesh and Nepal. We have signed up with the distributors, we have identified the dealer locations, spare parts, CKD facilities, all those things are done, tested, and now the team is in place. But we are cautiously moving in our marketing campaign, depending upon the political situations and the numbers which are taking place. We don't want to be overly there, so we will go cautious about those areas, but that's another one market.
So international market, as I have been always maintaining, is cautiously optimistic. Market by market, there will be a growth, but we have to continue to be focusing on the brand building, which we will use the overarching, umbrella 125-year celebration. So we are going into some markets like Brazil. We are going to be there in São Paulo and Rio. There we will do the market activations with maybe Hunter Himalayan. That's how we feel that we can be in the market and grow the market. So maybe coming year, as I mentioned, calibration and grow. That's what is for the international market.
Got it. This is really helpful. Thank you so much. [audio distortion]
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, kindly limit yourselves to two questions at a time. The next question is from the line of Amyn Pirani from J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, good evening, and thanks for the opportunity. Most of the questions have been answered, so just a few clarifications on the capacity expansion plan. So first of all, the 1.45 million capacity that you have mentioned, which is currently, is it the capacity like which has just been, you know, reached right now, or this is something that we always had? Because we are going to do some debottlenecking at the existing lines.
Amyn, just the clarity, 1.2 million is a declared capacity, if you all know.
Okay.
We have been saying 1.2-
Yeah.
About INR 100 crores, which has actually cleared my board about two months back, which we said the first quarter, which will start kicking in. So that will be in another about one, one and a half months time. That's where the build capacity goes to almost about INR 14.5 lakhs.
Okay.
Sorry, INR 14.5 lakhs, 1.45 million. But we are seeing the growth momentum continuing. That's why we are not waiting for the actual SVP cycle and all. Today in the board, we presented about the, the CapEx requirement for further taking it to 2 million. So we are kick-starting that starting today. Board has c lear the investment of about INR 958 crores. We have planned all those things for that expansion, so that's going to be a brownfield. But it will be in module, which is required for every month growth, at what point of time, what is the bottleneck, and that has to be focused and brought in. So we have a principle clearance for about another taking it to 2 million motorcycles. It'll all start this activity. That's why we said in eight quarters it'll keep coming in, because it's not going to come in one quarter.
Yeah.
That's also not required. So it has to come in over the period of time, especially for the festive peak seasons and all. So that will start kicking in, quarter- by- quarter.
Okay. Okay. Basically, the whole 2 million capacity will be available to us in the beginning of fiscal year 2029. Is that the correct understanding?
Yeah. You bet, yes, Amyn.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And just, as we go from this 1.45 to 2 million, just want to get your sense as to, do you have any broad, you know, targets or plan as to how much of that could be domestic or exports? And the reason I'm asking that question is that, for you as well as for a lot of your peers from India, it appears that a lot of the export growth will also happen through investments that one will have to do in all of these markets, right? Like some CKDs in some markets, some other, you know, facilities in some other market.
Just wanted to get a sense as to, you know, do we see the export share based on this capacity expansion also going higher over the next three, four years?
First and foremost, Amyn, the CKD has to go from India. The base capacity has to be generated in India. Because the amount of work content which we will be doing it outside India, it will make no sense because the cost will be higher.
Yeah.
So it has to go from India. That's how the cost advantage, which is there. So the fundamental base capacity, which is required to take it to 2 million, majority will be in India only. And that too, in Cheyyar, because that is where the brownfield opportunity is there for us.
Yeah.
So we have to go faster for the implementation, we will be doing it. As far as the CKD investments are concerned, most of the markets, as I've been saying in the last two years, we are setting the base ready for future to... Once the market opens, we will ride on it. One is about Brazil. We have two assemblies, but we are consolidating and making it a bigger one, so that is already baked in those expenses. It's a cash flow for this year. And APAC, in Thailand, we have, Argentina we have, Colombia we have, Bangladesh we have, Nepal we have, and we are also looking at Mexico and all, if it is required. In all those areas, the playbook from us is fully, fully ready. To answer you in one line, the base capacity enhancement has to take place at Chennai, India.
Okay.
Because that is what is going to feed the city branch.
Sure. Sure. That's very helpful, sir. I'll come back in the queue.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pramod Kumar from UBS Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks, thanks a lot. My first question is on the current daily production, your vendors, supply. Understand how the next few months will plan out around our-
Sorry, Pramod Kumar, we are unable-
Yeah.
To hear you. Your voice is muffled.
Can you hear me now? Is it better?
Yeah, please go ahead.
Yeah. So, now, my first question is to Govind on the current production capacity, because what we understand is the demand is way higher than what you can supply, and there have been some holidays and all that last few months. But where are we on the daily production capacities run rate, and how do you look at February, March production run rate, especially given the very low dealer inventory? And any thoughts around working the weekends or something like that to kind of improve the supply to the market?
Thanks, thanks, Pramod. Yes, the plant is running at almost 24/7 now, and it's in a full capacity. You know, all the, all the plants we are looking at wherever there is a possibility, if there is any leave or something like that, can we work on it with a special permission? Everything is being looked at because the demands are good, it's a better situation, and we have been growing. So to that extent, our team is also fully geared up. As far as the vendors which are coming, we have identified all the bottleneck areas which are required to ramp up, in, in, in the vendor and investments. We are having a pocket discussions with all the vendors, and from 2 million capacity, when do they kick in, and we have given a clarity to talk to their board.
In fact, today, we have shot a mail to them also to start talking about, and we have given a cadence of when you have to ramp up and all those capacities. It all will get aligned. If I have to tell you on a daily level, I think it's... If I have to tell you, I'm sure you guys are seeing it. It's last month, we have done almost about 110,000 motorcycles. So that divided by the number of working days, Pramod. Yeah?
No, what is it, Govind, given Pongal holiday, how many working days you had in January?
No, you know, that's gone. No, February and March, we don't have much of holidays, except the annual inventory, which we have to do. To that extent, we will... And if I had to tell you, we are, we are delivering almost about 4,300-4,400 vehicles per day.
Oh, okay, 4,300-4,400. Okay. And Govind, any change in the demand context? Because, like, we had an issue with demand or accessibility. Now with post GST, what are the kind of—I don't know if you answered this question. Forgive me if you already discussed this, but what is the change in the kind of walk-ins and the quality of customers or the customer profile, which has changed at, what are you seeing at the dealership? And any, anything to call out on rural versus urban? Are you seeing higher uptake in any one of the segments or, or what, what... If you can just provide some qualitative flavor on the kind of demand you're seeing.
Because you are going ahead for a big expansion, so I'm just trying to understand what gives you that confidence that just based on a GST cut, whether this sustains or not. I'm just trying to get some confidence on the demand read here.
Yeah. So Pramod, currently the demand is holding up. There is a, there's a good inquiry. I always mention the funnel is from the website search. The search is very good. It does mean the interest on product Royal Enfield at the overall level is very good. That's a starting point for that. Now, when we come back into this, where is the interest showing? Is it in urban market, or in the rural market, or in the semi-urban market? During this window, which we have seen, and you all know, including the FMCG, urban was not growing, but now we are seeing even the urban markets are growing. Urban markets are growing, could be, we are not able to attribute exactly to that, but probably the income tax cut, which has come in. There is a positive sentiment which is there in spend.
So to that extent, I'm seeing urban market are also growing. Rural and semi-urbans are really, really growing. So when there is a growth, then the next part which we are talking about is which product is actually showing a lot of traction? Post GST, if I have to give you some color, all our 350 cc models are equally growing, including Classic. The age profile, because of the accessibility which has become better post the GST, is for the Hunter. So the Hunter age profile has actually dropped further. It has come to almost about 40% of the buyers who are buying Hunter. As of now, they are at an age group of almost 23-24. So that has drastically come down, which used to be only almost about 34-35%.
There's a huge jump, 5%-6% jump, which I'm seeing it in Hunter. So as in Classic, walk-ins are increasing, and that's why I said when the interest is better, walk-ins are increasing, all the products are actually having the traction. Bullet 350, last year phenomena had been, you know, earlier to that, when we launched, it was only in the bastion market. Last year, we went in for Pan India. Now, Pan India, where the Bullet was not really accepted, also the markets where the Bullets are having a very high traction now. So our Hunter is growing, Bullet is growing, Classic is growing. Now we have come up with the Meteor on the 350 cc, even with the Sundowner. So the Meteor is actually growing because we completely did a refresh of the Meteor. It was showing a dip.
Once again, with the GST and with the new colorways, it is actually going up in this. As I mentioned, more than 350 cc, there was a sharp decline post the GST tax increase. But as I mentioned, the rate of recovery of that is better. 650 has shown recovery much higher than the 450. 450 cc, it is showing a recovery, but it is slightly slower. For that market, we have to do activation a bit more. So we are starting with what is called the Gymkhana or the 450 cc, where we are doing a rider training so that you can be a better trained riding personality and use the motorcycle to see how good the motorcycle is. We launched Hanle Black, which is also showing Himalayan is having some traction in this.
The Hunter Hood as a function which we have been doing now across small towns. Last year we did only three. Coming year, we'll be seeing it in more places where there is inquiries are better, young audience are looking for something to celebrate. So we are taking the street culture onto a platform called Hunter Hood. So with all the activities, plus 125th year as the, the mother brand, campaign, which we are going to do, that is what is actually giving us the confidence that, yes, the growth is continuing and the momentum will continue. Inquiries are better. Our dealer principals discussions, which we had, all of them are very upbeat about the overall market. The middle size market itself is also growing. That's a good thing.
I mean, if I have to talk about two years back, we discussed, will the middleweight be grown? At some point, we also said it is rested on the leaders who has been having the highest market share, but now I'm seeing the overall, the middleweight segment is growing. That's a good sign. Thereby, with the overall volume goes up, there is a space for us to grow in all the activities which we are doing. That's the confidence, and, with that background only, we requested the board for the clearance of the CapEx, which the board has consented to go ahead with that investment, and that's what we are going ahead with that, for the fulfillment, Pramod .
Thanks a lot, Govind. Very, helpful. Thanks a lot, and best of luck. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants are requested to restrict themselves to two questions at a time. The next question is from the line of Pramod Amthe from InCred Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, thanks for taking my question. The first question is in regards to the CapEx amount and the way you are calling it brownfield. You all already announced a 20% rise in the capacity to 1.8 to 1.4. Now you are talking about 1.4 to 4 to 1, almost like 2 million-
Sorry, excuse me, Pramod. Pramod, your-
Yes.
Your audio is not clear to us, please.
Can you hear me now?
Slightly better. Go ahead, please.
Now, I was saying, when you are calling it, brownfield, it's the capacity is going up almost like a 60%-70%. If I had to take it from 1.2 million to 2 million. And the extent of CapEx is also, much, much leaner as compared to a greenfield. What are you doing differently as compared to a typical manufacturing setup to expand the capacity to get, such efficiency in CapEx spending?
Two things. I think one have to be looking at, with the CAFE norms coming in, how efficient and how fungible it is. So any of the investments which we are doing, we have to have that fungibility in, in, in mind. Second is, you know, more and more automations have to come in, in, in these areas, which will actually help us to get the cost advantages also, because you can't be looking at the labor arbitrage always. So we have to be looking at an IoT base, which that's what is the focus. Whatever the learning which we had from our existing plants, like Oragadam and Vallam, because we are all in one place and the team is same, so we have funneled out what improvements we can do at the manufacturing facility. Thereby, we will give a differentiated product.
Flexibility, which has to be built in, and it has to also be there when tomorrow, you know, 450 goes up, what does it mean? How do we get the fungibility into this? Those are all the contours with which we are building this newer capacity.
The follow-up is... Yeah, sorry, go ahead.
Sorry. Go ahead, please. Go ahead.
And also in terms of product profile, you feel the existing cc range will fulfill this such a large expansion, or you would be looking at downsizing, or how would you be looking at product profile to fill this entire 2 million?
Our focus always had been the middleweight, 250 cc to 750 cc. Currently, we are at about 350 cc, 450 cc, and 650 cc. You will see the adjacencies which are there, but the demand as of now is on 350 cc. So here and now, the task in hand is: How do I fulfill that demand? The capacity build has to go around that immediately. There are enough projects which are going on.
Sure. The last question is with regard to VECV. Considering that the recovery this time seems to be driven by ICV, where I think Eicher has a very dominant market share position, how are you positioned in terms of capacity, and what is the plan for capacity buildup there? And second, in terms of do you need to launch product, new products there to maintain the leadership? Because some of the competitors are trying to enter the segment or increase the competitive intensity.
As far as the capacity is concerned, we have now two truck plants. One is in Pithampur and another is in Bhopal. So for the current volumes, we are very well industrialized, so there is no concern as far as the capacity is concerned for the current year. But of course, next year, if the industry continues to grow, then, of course, we might have to increase the capacity in Bhopal, and for which we are thinking over it, and. But that will not be a very major CapEx. So we will take steps in next year. If on peak level, some monthly requirement is high, then we will take those steps next year.
You might be what? 85%-90% utilization now?
Yeah, currently we are producing 10,000 vehicles per month, 10,000 +, so we are almost at 80%-90%.
Sure, sir. Thanks, and all the best.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, please limit yourself to two questions. The next question is from the line of Yash Agarwal from Nirmal Bang Securities Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening. Thank you for the opportunity. My question is for the VECV bus segment. As we have seen that bus volumes have moderated in Q3 and also for year to date averages, accompanied by a 110 basis points decline in market share. So could you elaborate on key factors contributing to this slowdown and steps to stabilize and regain market share?
First of all, as far as the bus industry is concerned, this year the growth has not been that high as we had experienced in the previous years because the base was very high. So therefore, the growth rates have been moderated. And the second, the reason of our lower numbers is also due to you know, some lower orders from the institutional sales. Last year, we had very large institutional sale order from UPSRTC. This year, of course, we still don't have very large orders, whereas the competition has got larger orders. So therefore, our overall numbers are down a little bit.
My second question is on export, which has been very strong this year. Could you share insights on key geographies driving this growth, and what will be the export momentum expected for Q4 and beyond?
We are right now having very good traction in Middle East. We are now exporting almost 100+ vehicles there every month, largely buses and LHD trucks. Then, of course, the numbers are also better for us in Bangladesh and Nepal. Sri Lanka market also has opened up again, but there, of course, still the numbers are very small. And, and of course, the numbers in African markets are also respectable. So therefore, all this has contributed to our high growth in export numbers. And going forward, Q4 also is likely to be better as far as exports are concerned.
Okay, and my last question is for the Enfield electric portfolio. Could you share more detail on the launch roadmap, target customer segment, and how these products fit in well into the broader portfolio, like Flying Flea and others?
So Flying Flea is our endorsed brand of Royal Enfield for the city, city plus electric mobility. We have two products which we unveiled. One is called C6, which is a classic style one. Another one is an S6, which is a scrambler version. C6 is almost ready for production. You will see it in the market soon. But we will be doing a cautious approach of not going around and then saying, "Here is a product." We'll build it because as a category it has to be built, and we will build it slowly and steadily. That you will see it in next quarter time window. And the S6 will come at the during the course of the year, around the EICMA time. That's the tentative plan as of now.
Okay, sir. That's it from my side, and congratulations for Q4 results.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will take that as the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Well, thank you very much for everyone for attending this conference call, and see you all soon.
Thank you very much. On behalf of HDFC Securities Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us today, and you may now disconnect your lines.