TVS Motor Company

T. V. Sundaram Iyengar began with Madurai's first bus service in 1911 and founded TVS, a company in the transportation business with a large fleet of trucks and buses under the name of Southern Roadways.

Early history

Sundaram Clayton was founded in 1962 in collaboration with Clayton Dewandre Holdings, United Kingdom. It manufactured brakes, exhausts, compressors and various other automotive parts. The company set up a plant at Hosur in 1976, to manufacture mopeds as part of their new division. In 1980, TVS 50, India's first two-seater moped rolled out of the factory at Hosur in Tamil Nadu, India. A technical collaboration with the Japanese auto giant Suzuki Ltd. resulted in the joint-venture between Sundaram Clayton Ltd and Suzuki Motor Corporation, in 1987. Commercial production of motorcycles began in 1989.[2]

Suzuki relationship

TVS and Suzuki shared a 1-year-long relationship that was aimed at technology transfer for design and manufacture of two-wheelers specifically for the Indian market. Re-christened TVS-Suzuki, the company brought out several models such as the Suzuki Supra, Suzuki Samurai, Suzuki Shogun and Suzuki Shaolin. In 2001, after separating ways with Suzuki, the company was renamed TVS Motor, relinquishing its rights to use the Suzuki name. There was also a 30-month moratorium period during which Suzuki promised not to enter the Indian market with competing two-wheelers.

Recent

TVS Apache RR 310 is their latest 310 cc motorcycle

TVS Scooty Streak - one of the discontinued scooters of Scooty series

TVS also competes in the 3 Wheeler segment

Recent launches include the flagship model TVS Apache RR 310, the TVS Apache RTR 200, TVS Victor and TVS XL 100. TVS has recently won 4 top awards at J.D. Power Asia Pacific Awards 2016, 3 top awards at J.D. Power Asia Pacific Awards 2015 and Two-Wheeler Manufacturer of the Year at NDTV Car & Bike Awards (2014–15).

In early 2015, TVS Racing became the first Indian factory team to take part in the Dakar Rally, the world's longest and most dangerous rally. TVS Racing partnered with French motorcycle manufacturer Sherco, and named the team Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team. TVS Racing also won the Raid de Himalaya and the FOX Hill Super Cross held at Sri Lanka. In three decades of its racing history, TVS Racing has won over 90% of the races it participates in.

In 2016, TVS started manufacturing the BMW G310R, a model co-developed with BMW Motorrad after their strategic partnership in April 2013. In December 2018, the Hosur plant where the motorcycle is manufactured rolled out its 50,000th G310R series unit.[3]

On 6 December 2017, TVS launched their most-awaited motorcycle, the Apache RR 310 in an event at Chennai. The 310 cc motorcycle with an engine which was co-developed with BMW features the first ever full fairing on a TVS bike, dual-channel ABS, EFI, KYB suspension kits, etc. It is expected to rival bikes like KTM RC 390, Kawasaki Ninja 250SL, Bajaj Pulsar and Dominar and Honda CBR 250R after hitting the market. The Apache RR 310 is designed and realised entirely in India.[4]

On 17th April 2020, it has been reported that TVS Motor Company acquired Norton Motorcycle Company in an all cash deal. In the short term, they will continue the production of motorcycles at Donington Park using the same staff. [5]

It was the first Indian company to deploy a catalytic converter in a 100 cc motorcycle and the first to indigenously produce a four stroke motorcycle. The list of firsts from the firm include: India's first 2-seater moped – TVS 50, India's first Digital Ignition - TVS Champ, India's first fully indigenous motorcycle - Victor, first Indian company to launch ABS in a motorcycle - Apache RTR Series, Indonesia's first dual-tone exhaust noise technology – Tormax, and a recent launch - India's first connected scooter TVS NTORQ which claims to be India's first Bluetooth Connected Scooter with features like Call Assistance, Navigation, etc.

• TVS NTORQ
• TVS Jupiter
• TVS Wego
• Apache RTR Series
• TVS Radeon

TVS Motor won the prestigious Deming Application Prize in 2002.[6]

In the same year, the work done for the TVS Victor motorcycle made TVS Motor win the National Award for successful commercialization of indigenous technology from the Technology Development Board, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India.[7] In 2004, TVS Scooty Pep won the 'Outstanding Design Excellence Award' from BusinessWorld magazine and the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

The effective implementation of Total Productivity Maintenance practices gave TVS Motor the TPM Excellence Award, given by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance in 2008.

The company's chairman, Venu Srinivasan, was conferred with an honorary Doctorate of Science degree by the University of Warwick, United Kingdom in 2004,[8] while the Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian distinctions in 2010.[9]

Innovative implementation of Information Technology has won TVS Motor the Ace Award for Most Innovative NetWeaver Implementation in 2007, awarded by technology major SAP AG, and the Team Tech 2007 Award of Excellence for Integrated use of Computer-aided engineering Technologies.

Himalayan Highs, an initiative launched by TVS Motor Company has been included in the India Book of Records when Anam Hashim became the first woman on a 110 cc scooter to complete the trip to Khardung La, the world's highest motorable stretch.

During a Grand Tour challenge, Richard Hammond bought a brand new TVS Star HLS 100 cc "for £800" and used it to complete the "Feed the world" challenge, transporting fish from Maputo to Bingo. During the challenge, the bike performed beyond the presenter's expectations, prompting the normally motorbike-critical Clarkson to comment, "That Ewan McGregor travelled the world on a BMW GS - why didn't he just get one of these?"

• Official website