BENGALURU: VE Commercial Vehicles Limited (VECV), the 50:50 joint venture between the Volvo group and Eicher Motors Limited (Eicher) announced the launch of Eicher Skyline Pro Series of buses in Bengaluru.  The new series will meet the demands of the emerging premium market segment providing enhanced passenger safety and comfort, says the company.

 
VECV senior VP sales of sales, marketing and aftermarket Shyam Maller said, “The new generation Eicher Skyline Pro Series buses have been developed as per our philosophy of relevant modernisation to continuously improve transportation efficiency in India developing world thereby reducing cost of people transportation and increased productivity.”

 
The company plans to market these buses through ground events involving users, social media and a bit of print advertising. For print, VECV uses local news media. “For example, in Bengaluru, Eicher would advertise in a local paper such as Deccan Herald rather than a Times of India,” explained an industry source who also revealed that, overall, the company spends around 3-4 per cent of its annual revenues of about Rs 5000 crore or about Rs 150 to Rs 200 crore in a year towards sales, marketing and advertising. This includes BTL activities as well as ATL.  TBWA handles its creative duties.

 
The vehicle manufacturer witnessed a slight growth in numbers to 3052 units in October 2014 as compared to the 3001 units sold in October 2013.