Tata Motors Prima truck range has been awarded the prestigious first prize in South Korea - the "Grand Prize, Korea's 2009 Good Design Selection".
The first truck range was introduced in South Korea: Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company, a wholly owned subsidiary, after the launch in India.
By winning the Grand Prix, the range is still the first sport in the prestigious "MD" Mark is recognized throughout South Korea, as a mark of excellence.
The Prima is not just a single truck but a range of trucks covering multi-axle trucks, tractor-trailers, tippers, mixers and special application vehicles. The range has a carrying capacity of 10 to 49 tonnes in India, in terms of gross vehicle weight. Internationally it can go up to 75 tonnes. There are two-, three-, four- and five-axle trucks. Once these are exhausted, you can add tractor-trailers. It can take engines of different horsepower. Drivers can choose the features, comforts, type of roof, trims and colour. The potential variants go up to more than 1,000.
With its made-to-order promise, the Prima is poised to take the transportation industry by storm. It is local engineering, design and development capabilities,have complied with world-class specifications and used world-class aggregates, but the integration has been localised. So it have a cost advantage over the relevant competition.
So far trucks have been simple, not attaining high speeds because they don’t use very powerful engines. The use of a powerful engine would demand a more rugged drivetrain, clutch, gearbox and axle, adding to the cost.
The improved road network would expose the inefficiencies of the current range of trucks as they can neither overtake speedily nor travel at high speeds. Thanks to its superior machinery, the Prima can truly take advantage of road conditions, cutting down distances by half, reducing congestion on the roads and keeping pace with cars.
Today transporters are paid per tonne per km. They know that with current roads and vehicles, they cannot cover too much distance. So they overload the trucks.
With the Prima, they can carry the optimum load, but get much further and return for a second load. Better ergonomics makes driving a pleasure, encouraging drivers to drive long distances instead of stopping to rest. Also, one driver can drive while the other sleeps in the fully air-conditioned cabin.
At 10 years with the first owner, the Prima’s useful life is twice as much as the five years of current trucks, thereby slowing the rate of depreciation and increasing its resale value. Most of the reliability and durability analyses indicate roadworthiness of around a million kilometres.
The Prima also requires much less routine servicing, ensuring that the truck is available for use for longer periods. Tata Motors guarantees that it will be available for more than 330 days a year. The Prima will be a more cost-effective way of transporting, despite its higher cost. It will help transporters reduce costs, thereby lowering inventory. It will help truckers to improve their deliveries and increase business.
The company is currently engaged in training drivers to drive the Prima.Before the customer buys the Prima, the Tata company make sure that each vehicle has two trained drivers. This will ensure that the drivers are not intimidated by the vehicles and that they are able to run it efficiently and get the best out of it. Also, for the first few runs of the vehicle, service engineers will travel with the drivers.
This initial handholding is bound to increase the confidence of drivers and customers. The company plans to have a service centre every 100km across India.
The Prima has been extensively tested for environment and safety standards in different conditions and countries and for different laws. The components have been tested by the suppliers and by Tata Motors. CVBU has sourced aggregates and components from different parts of the globe. For example, the cab styling is from Italy; the engine technology is from Cummins Korea, and also from Iveco; and the gearbox is from Eton, an American company. The expertise and knowledge of all these people have contributed to the making of the world truck. The trucks also meet weight and dimension requirements of different countries. CVBU is confident that with the Prima, it will be able to deliver the lowest lifecycle cost anywhere.
