At present, around 800-1000 units get sold annually, with defence and tourism together contributing to around 70-80% of the total sales
US-based Polaris, one of the two major players selling all terrain vehicles (ATVs) or off-road vehicles, expects this segment to grow threefold in the next five years even though such vehicles are not yet road-legal in India.
At present, around 800-1000 units get sold annually, with defence and tourism together contributing to around 70-80% of the total sales.
Pankaj Dubey, CEO & director, Eicher Polaris Pvt Ltd, and country head & MD of Polaris India Pvt Ltd, said, “We expect the market size of ATVs to grow thrice of what it is now in the next five years.”
According to Dubey, the only thing making the ATVs road-illegal are the lack of regulations regarding the vehicle because of which they can not be registered.
Dubey says that despite making several representations to the government, the industry has not been able to make any headway, and he does not see it happening in near future.
“When we go to talk to the authorities, they say why does this vehicle need (registration) when anyway it has to be driven off-the road. But when I reply them saying that for taking it off the road, I still have to drive it on a small stretch of the road, the authorities are quick to say who is stopping you? But then, at the end of the day, you know is not legal. A policeman on road may get amazed on looking at the vehicle and may not challan it. However, if they decide to get strict then it becomes very very embarrassing for the customers as well as for us and that is why we don't encourage it to be driven on road,” adds Dubey.
Asked what could be the grounds for not making the vehicle road-legal, Dubey said that the problem lies in the past. “They have not been very receptive for creating new categories of rules because of various experiences that they had in the last few years whereby they have tried to create certain rules and it has lead to almost no results.”
Citing an example, Dubey said that in the recent past, so much of back-and-forth has happened over rules for quadricycle, which has resulted in a lot of confusion and chaos among the manufacturers and other stakeholders. The other reason for not getting serious in creating rules is the low number of units sold.
As per the experts, even though ATVs are popular, they are considered as road-illegal in most of the countries due to safety reasons. In countries where they are road-legal, the regulators demand strict conditions for their plying. For example, in the UK, ATVs must be approved, registered, taxed and have an MOT (if needed) to be used on the road.
Suzuki Motorcycles, the other major player in the segment, did not to respond to the email seeking an interaction on the subject.
There are a few other small players in the segment which import ATVs from China and sell them using their own brand name. In order to work around the road-legality issue, the companies are promoting them for sports, tourism, defence, policing, and other government needs.
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