Ideal Motors revs up offerings with mega auto show

 From left: Ideal Group Director Automotive Chaminda Wanigaratne, Fairfirst Insurance GM Sales and Marketing Niranjan Nagendran, Ideal Group Chairman Nalin Welgama, Ideal Group Deputy Chairman Aravinda De Silva, Ideal Wheels & Tyres CEO Jagath Samarasekara, Mahindra & Mahindra Country Manager Sri Lanka Sagar Bhadkamkar - Pix by Ruwan Walpola

By Poorabi Gaekwad

In partnership with Mahindra & Mahindra, Ideal Motors will host an exciting event to showcase its new vehicles on 15 and 16 July titled ‘Ideal Vision Auto & Lifestyle Show 2017,’ which is expected to showcase a wider range of electric vehicles. 

The event will commence at 7:30 a.m. on 15 July with the Ideal Abhiyogaya Mahindra Bolero Rally which is being organised together with the Ceylon Motor Sports Club. The rally will leave Nelum Pokuna and traverse the streets of Colombo for approximately three hours, giving spectators a foretaste of what awaits them on visiting ‘Ideal Vision driven by Mahindra’. 

The show will include launch of key vehicles from two wheelers to pickups, double cabs, electric vehicles and buses from Mahindra, followed by the launch of a new range of Apollo Tyres.

Speaking on the occasion, Mahindra & Mahindra Vice President/Head of International Operations – AFS (South Asia) Sanjay Jadhav said: “Our partner Ideal Motors is one of Sri Lanka’s most established automobile companies and their sound knowledge of the local market coupled with professional expertise have ensured our success. Our top management and I are very excited about this unique event that will enable us to connect further with our customers and forge an even better customer experience and several of our senior officials from Mahindra & Mahindra will be attending the event.”

Associated with the Ideal Group in this venture are Platinum Sponsors Fairfirst Insurance and Apollo Tyres, together with a host of other sponsors including Seylan Bank, Nawaloka Hospitals, Abans, Kandos, Valvoline, Stafford Trading, Causeway Paints and Sinwa. 

Ideal Group Founder and Executive Chairman Nalin Welgama said that an impressive line-up of electric vehicles from Mahindra would also be introduced in the next few months in keeping with global trends.

“We are also proud to be the first auto major in Sri Lanka to introduce a franchised electric vehicle from the house of Mahindra & Mahindra, a global conglomerate which manufactures the widest spectrum of automobiles ranging from two-wheelers, three-wheelers, light trucks, heavy trucks and buses, to UVs, construction equipment, SUVs and cars,” said Welgama. 

While the whole world has come together to strengthen the response to the threat of climate change, and invest in a sustainable low carbon future, the automotive industry is not behind. Electric and driverless cars are of the future and a near one. An estimated 2,032,000 highway-legal plug-in passenger cars and vans have been sold worldwide at the end of 2016, with the biggest market being in China and Europe. 

It looks like Sri Lanka is ready to enter this list. Mahindra e2o will be launched soon, and it will be designed for the everyday people. Apart from having a range of 100 kilometers, it will be priced very low and will essentially cater to be used as a second vehicle. 

The Ideal Group is an innovative company which specialises in introducing game changing technology to the Sri Lankan automotive market and is in the forefront of this industry today. To date, it has sold over 60,000 vehicles in the country and Mahindra has emerged as the market leader in above one ton category with over 50% market share. 

A fully-fledged player in the market, Ideal Motors is optimistic that the country is ready for the technological revolution and will soon have electric driverless cars. 

Year 2017 has been remarkable in the history of the Ideal Group, with a plethora of new offerings and ventures having taken place. Another of its important projects is to build an assembly line right here in Sri Lanka, primarily to help Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

“The assembly line is for the normal person to be able to afford a car because the duty on the assembly line vehicles has a 50% savings from a normal imported car so that will give an additional impetus for us to try and capture a larger portion of the market,” said Welgama. “In Sri Lanka, no auto major has taken an equity partnership in the assembly of a vehicle.”

One of the main reasons behind this initiative is Welgama’s belief in restricting foreign ownership in the trade business. He told Daily FT: “By increasing the duties on imported vehicles, the Government is not doing justice because the SMEs don’t have the means for it. These vehicles were low in price, and they are suddenly gone way beyond their reach.”

Another impressive venture by Ideal Motors is ‘Ideal Diviyata Saviyak’, which is a water purification scheme in rural Anuradhapura. Part of the proceeds generated from ticket sales of the show will be devoted to its CSR endeavour which is something the Ideal Group is very passionate about.