TVS triumphs at SLIM Brand Excellence

Wins highest number of awards as a single brand breaking 15 years of records of SLIM Brand Excellence

Premier micro automobile brand TVS has created history by winning six awards under a single brand name at the recently concluded 15th SLIM Brand Excellence Awards Ceremony. 

In all the 15 years of the award ceremony’s history there has not been a single brand achieving this milestone by any local or multinational brand. This is also the first time in its history that a local or multinational brand has secured six awards at a single Brand Excellence Award Ceremony.

“These accolades that have been independently appraised and evaluated by an eminent panel of judges, which recognised the Excellence of Brand TVS in Financial Performance as well as Brand Health and Equity Performance through a stringent preset criteria. TVS Lanka winning the prestigious title of ‘Brand of the Year’ and its continuous success in clinching national level excellence across all products and service brands marketed in Sri Lanka is a testament to the consumers’ response to Brand TVS. 

“The Brand of the Year is the highest accolade that a brand can achieve in this most sought after awards ceremony in branding and business,” said TVS Lanka Chief Executive Officer Ravi Liyanage.

He further added that the unique 4Di Strategy: Discovering, Disrupting, Diluting and De-categorising of consumer value via innovation has paid dividends towards massive growth in both top-line and bottom line apart from the direct impact of the brand equity and health. 

Head of Marketing TVS Lanka, Hashan Haputhanthri said that the research-led discovery of consumer insights has been the genesis of the brand strategy of TVS which led it to surpass key result areas of the SLIM Brand Excellence. 

“We are grateful to our valued customers at this point in time who made it possible for us to achieve this historic and momentous feat.”  

TVS Lanka CEO Ravi Liyanage (right) congratulating Head of Marketing Hashan Haputhanthri. Others from left: Anuradha Kaluarachchi – Manager, Showroom Channel; Bawananth Selvendram – Manager, Plant Operation & Workshop; Lalantha Wikumsiri – AGM, After Market; Geethal Anthony - AGM Sales, TVS Two Wheeler Range; Shirantha Palliyaguru - Head of Sales, TVS KING Range; Sunil Bandarawatta - AGM Finance; and Lasantha Gunawardana - Senior Manager - Human Resources and Administration

TVS Lanka clinched the much coveted Brands of the Year (Gold) and the B2B Brand (Gold), Innovative Brand (Gold) and Product Brand (Gold) awards for its unique 4Di strategy. The company also secured two Silver Awards for Best New Entrant and International Brand. 

Brand TVS has been deploying an exceptional customer touch point expansion strategy to enhance brand presence which exceeds 1,400, spans sales dealerships , service dealerships and spares dealerships. 

Brand has validated consistent performance in the recent past and has been recognised as the ‘Product Brand of the Year 2015’ across all product brands marketed in Sri Lanka. Further, in the same year TVS won ‘Most Innovative Brand of the Year’ and ‘Turnaround Brand of the Year’. 

Consumers consider TVS Lanka as the Range Leader since it has the widest selection of two wheelers ranging from Scooters and Scooty Pep, WEGO, Jupiter and Scooty Zest to a wide array of motorcycles.

Scooty Pep was the first to launch in the country and has a tremendous growth in sales. The new Gen Scooty Pep+ is for that “bubbly teenage girl who is around 19 years”. Scooty Pep+ is economical, easy to maintain/handle and fashionable. 

Available in various colours, Scooty Pep+ is considered the entry scooter since it has a 90cc engine but with a host of features like Eazycentre stand, econometer and a mobile charger apart from being the best fuel efficient scooter with 65 KMPL. 

The TVS WEGO is perceived as the most modern unisex fully loaded scooter in the country. It is for extreme unisex usage and ridden by both males and females who are around 25 years of age and more rugged in nature and it could be used in all terrains. The new Wego boasts body balance technology which makes manoeuvrability easy in touch traffic conditions. Its 110cc CVT-i engine gives best-in-class mileage and comes with a digital speedometer. TVS WEGO is positioned as a Scooter that can ‘Go Beyond Boundaries’.

TVS Jupiter has been perceived in the mind of a Sri Lankan as the ‘Scooter for the executive’ is lifestyle led, more manly, big in size, smart and male attitude driven. Usage wise it’s for more office/professionals. 

This is again for youths in their late 20s. Features like largest front leg space, brightest headlamp and unique pass by switch provides added benefits to our customer.

TVS Scooty Zest has been perceived as ‘Sri Lanka’s the most stylish scooter’ with a very elegant shape that no other in the category can match.

In the motorbike category, the Apache being the flagship brand has been receiving overwhelming user confidence for its unique style and unmatched performance. Apache RTR, Metro, XL SUPER and Phoenix are the brands in the main stream of the Two-Wheeler category.

Brand TVS became the Mileage Leader through TVS Metro, since it was perceived as the longest running bike in Asia since it does 97 km with one litre of petrol.

The TVS Metro also has a reputation in Sri Lanka as being the premium entry bike for youth and specifically targets a young executive. It is equipped with features like a 100 cc Dura life engine and a powerful electric start with stylish alloy wheels that have been the USP of TVS Metro.

The TVS KING Three Wheeler has captured people’s attention as the innovator in the category. The TVS KING, with a view to promote its innovativeness, performance, style and efficiency, signed with Kumar Sangakkara during the last two years.

The Three Wheeler industry has a history of more than three decades in Sri Lanka and approximately about one million three wheelers on the road. This has already become an integral mode of transportation in the county. 

TVS Lanka is committed to providing innovative, technologically advanced, fuel efficient, spacious, comfortable and the safest automobiles to this category. 

TVS KING has gained swift recognition in this business domain and penetrated a sizable share and is now well poised to extend its presence even better to all parts of Sri Lanka. Being the first three wheeler to be fitted with a 200 CC four stroke engine. TVS King has been very well accepted in every part of the country for its performance and best-in-class fuel efficiency.

Prior to its arrival, for 30 years Sri Lankan three wheeler owners and passengers both had to be content with the same stagnant product and features with very little value addition or product improvements. TVS King was developed after extensive field research both in Sri Lanka and India; hence it brought in an array of new features and benefits for the Sri Lankan three wheeler owners and passengers. 

A single large windshield, twin head lamps with multi reflectors, a dashboard with indicators, a magazine and water bottle holders were some of the features that were first introduced to the Sri Lankan market by TVS King. Today these features have become standard features looked for in any three wheeler, thus benefiting every new three wheeler customer in the island. Consumer choice is changing with the infrastructure development in the country.

TVS KING is the best fit for our developed road network. Brand TVS’ consumers need “comfortable and safe transportation” not just “transportation”. Its consumers look for quality, safety and comfort. TVS KING is a perfect fit for that. 

Consumers who drive a TVS KING relate that the experience is no longer like a Three-Wheeler but that of a car. This is due to unparalleled comfort, safety and spaciousness. The commuting public has the biggest advantage of travelling in the safest three wheeler in Sri Lanka that are designed for safety with a unique Crash Bar, Crash Zone and Single Chasis concept. This is nonexistent in other three wheelers.

TVS KING also has the widest range with TVS KING GS (Conventional type), TVS KING FLD (Fully Loaded version with 35 features), TVS KING FB (For Bakery products transportation), TVS KING GS SP (The 2nd version of FLD), TVS KING MAX (Sri Lanka’s 1st Bio-degradable Fiber Hooded three wheeler which attracts the Tourism Industry)  

Brand TVS is marketed through a joint venture between United Motors Sri Lanka and TVS Associate Companies in India by forming TVS Lanka Ltd. The TVS Motor Company, the flagship of the 100-year-old, $ 7.2 billion TVS Group, is one of India’s leading two wheeler manufactures and among the top seven in the world. The company has three manufacturing plants in India and one in Indonesia. 

Present in over 60 countries worldwide, the TVS Motor Company is renowned for innovation and currently owns more than 600 patents. 

The TVS Motor Company has the unique distinction within automotive industry of being the only two wheeler manufacturer to have been awarded the prestigious Deming Award. The Deming Award is a global quality award that recognises corporates for their contributions to the field of Total Quality Management (TQM) and businesses that have successfully implemented TQM.