Force Motors Cars

Force Motors (known as Bajaj Tempo Ltd. until 2005) was founded in 1957 when Mr. N. K. Firodia signed a deal on collaborating  with Vidal & Sohn Tempo Werke GmbH for phased manufacturing of the Tempo 3-Wheeler. The initial manufacturing started in a small plant at Goregaon, Bombay.

Force Motors has historically focused on the light commercial vehicles in the transport segment in India, with brands such as Tempo, Metador, Trax and the Traveller. It exports its complete range of products to various countries in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa.

The company sells products in five segments namely Small Commercial Vehicles (SCV), Multi Utility Vehicles (MUV), Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV), Tractors and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCV). HVs are produced under MAN Force Trucks Pvt. Ltd which is a 50:50 joint venture between MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG of Germany and Force Motors Ltd. of India.

The joint venture has an installed capacity of 24,000 trucks per annum at its ‘state of the art’ plant at Pithampur, near Indore (MP). Half the production is earmarked for exports through the global MAN Sales Organization. The range of products manufactured includes Mining & Construction Tippers, Haulage Tractors and Multi Axle Trucks, from 16t GVW to 49t GCW.

Mr. Abhay N. Firodia is the Chairman & Managing Director, whilst Mr. Prasan Firodia is the Managing Director. The company has approximately 7,000 employees and hopes to achieve a turnover of Rs. 1,800 crores in 2010-11. The JV reported a turnover of Rs. 368 crores in the first half of 2010-11 compared to Rs. 130 crores turnover in the same period in 2009-10.

In 1950, Mr N. K Firodia started manufacturing the Tempo 3-Wheeler in collaboration with Vidal and Sohn.  In 1957, the 3 Wheeler started being manufactured from Goregaon, Mumbai. In 1964, the 4 Wheeled trucks and vans were introduced in November. The Viking vehicle was thereafter fitted with a diesel engine and the MATADOR was launched five years post that. The Mator production started with Daimler Benz with the Mercedes Benz OM 616 engine under license for fitting its own vehicles. In 1996, Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing facilities were introduced. A global tractor was then designed that had transmission technology from ZF, Germany, technical assistance for engine from Austria and hydraulics technology from Bosch.

Soon after, in 1999, a 35 HP version of the tractor, the OX 35 was introduced. Light Commercial Vehicles- the EXCEL range of state of the art vehicles was introduced.  These LCVs could carry loads of up to 4 tonnes. These vehicles with their ergonomics and aggregates represented the latest generation of LCVs that India had.

Mr. Firodia was the founder of Force Motors in 1958. Not only was he the founder of this prestigious company, but he was also a freedom fighter. The first car that he imported and later manufactured in India was the Tempo 3-Wheeler

Mr. Firodia birthplace and family history

Mr. Firodia was born in 1910 and died in 1997.

Mr. Firodia’s contribution to the company:

In collaboration with Vidal and Sohn, Germany; Mr. Firodia introduced the Tempo 3-Wheeler in India.  He opened a small plant in Mumbai in Goregaon and this factory had machines to produce three-wheelers. Initially he got a contract for 1000 vehicles per year and 80 vehicles per month.  Firodia coined the term auto rickshaw.  He expanded his business in Akurdi near Pune, where four-wheeled trucks were produced. In 1969, the facility started making the Matador.

Mr. Firodia Areas of Involvement:

Apart from manufacturing and importing cars, Mr. Firodia helped to establish several institutions and he had his heart and mind set on helping the weaker sections of the society. As a person who helped society, he was as much a philanthropist as the inventor of a car company.

• 2000: In 2000, Force Motors launched the Trax Judo and the Trax Gama for rural and urban transportation. They were multi-utility vehicles. This was the same year that the Prithampur plant receied the ISO 9002 certification for quality systems.
• 2003: The completion of certifying the Pithampur and Akurdi plant took place and Ford launched the Balwan range of tractors.
• 2004:  Two partnerships were formed – one was with MAN – the worlds leaders in engines and truck technologies to produce trucks and the second was the ZF to produce transmission technology.
• 2005: The 2005 year brought about change in the name Tempo to Force Motors. This name was chosen as it denoted power.
• 2006: At Pithampur, the company's state of the art HCV manufacturing facility was inaugurated
• 2008: The Traveller Shaktimaan, the Traveller Luxury and the Traveller Smooth were all launched.
• 2009: Force Motors introduced the New Cathodic Electro Deposition Paint Shop.
• 2010: Abhay Firodia was awarded the “Commerical Vehicle Man of the Year award by Commercial Vehicle Magazine. This was the same year the MAN CLA truck won the “HCV Rigid of the Year” award.

Force Motors continues its vision of providing efficient, utilitarian vehicles that empower the individual entrepreneur.

The company has a young and dynamic Managing Director, Mr Prasan Firodia, the grandson of Shri N K Firodia, who is assisted by a team of highly qualified professionals in all departments.  

Mr Prasan Firodia is just 31 years of age. Having been appointed the Managing Director of the Company since 2009, he operates from the Mumbai headquarters of the company. He is assisted by the following people to successfully run the company.

Mr. S.A Gundecha- Gundecha is the Non-Executive Independent Director of Force Motors and a member of ICSI.

Mr Sudhir Mehta- Mehta is a Member of Board of Management of Force Motors. He is also the Director of Force, and the State Bank of Indore. Mr. Mehta has a Bachelor’s Degree from Depauw and a Master’s Degree from University of Chicago in Business Management.

Force Motors has two “state of the art” manufacturing facilities, one at Akurdi, near Pune with a covered area of 1,00,000 sqm, spread over an estate of 100 acres where the Trump range of small commercial vehicles and Balwan agricultural tractors are manufactured, and the other factory at Pithampur, near Indore, with a covered area of 2,00,000 sqm, spread over an estate of 200 acres, where the Trax MUVs, Traveller LCVs and the MAN FORCE HCVs are manufactured.

Realizing its strength in terms of excellent engineering infrastructure and technical capabilities, Daimler requested Force in 1999 to set up a dedicated line for the assembly of its engines and gearboxes, which were to be fitted in the Mercedes cars, which were to be manufactured in India. Till date Force Motors has supplied over 21,000 engines. The warranty on engine assembly and testing is also with Force, and it is a matter of great pride that till date there are no failures or complaints from Mercedes. This business has now grown to a substantial size, as manufacturing of both front and rear axles for the C and E class cars has also been added recently.

Force Motors makes a full family of vehicles - the New Trump, Traveller Shaktiman, Trax and Citiline range of Buses & the Balwan and Orchard range of Tractors currently. The products are borne out of Force Motor's own Research & Development activity. The Product designs for these ranges of most modern vehicles were created by what is called the Computer Engineering Environment.

The Force Motor's Research & Development centre has a 150 terminal (CAD) Computer Aided Design network. Over 90% of the vehicles currently manufactured & sold by Force Motors are the latest designs, where, introduction is less than 5 years old. Furthermore, these are the products of most modern Computer Aided Design efforts. The company spends over 5% of its annual turnover on new Product Development. It employs 850 people for its R & D, tooling & project activity - 450 of these people are Engineers. New softwares such as IDEAS, CATIA, and ADAMS are used for design & validation. The engines designed by Force Motors are fully proven for emission and for fuel efficiency. The vehicles offer Green engines meeting that meet the BS III norms.

• 2000: In 2000, Force Motors launched the Trax Judo and the Trax Gama for rural and urban transportation. They were multi-utility vehicles. It was in the same year that Prithampur plant received the ISO 9002 certification for quality systems.
• 2003: The completion of certification of the Pithampur and Akurdi plant took place in this year.  
• 2004: Two partnerships were formed – one with MAN (the world’s leaders in engines and truck technologies) to produce trucks, and the second partnership was formed with ZF to produce transmission technology.
• 2005: The year 2005 brought about change in the name of the company from Tempo to Force Motors. This name was chosen as it denoted power.
• 2006: At Pithampur, the company's state of the art HCV manufacturing facility was inaugurated
• 2008: The Traveller Shaktimaan, the Traveller Luxury and the Traveller Smooth were all launched.
• 2009: Force Motors introduced the New Cathodic Electro Deposition Paint Shop.
• 2010: Abhay Firodia was awarded the “Commerical Vehicle Man of the Year award by Commercial Vehicle Magazine. This was the same year the MAN CLA truck won the “HCV Rigid of the Year” award.

Force vehicles are sold through a nationwide network of over 200 authorized dealers spread throughout the length and breadth of the country, fully equipped with company recommended tools, equipment and infrastructure, company trained manpower, adequate stocks of reasonably priced spare parts, to provide quick and efficient service to its customers. Most of the dealers have been with the company for two / three generations signifying the excellent business relations that the company has enjoyed with its business associates.

Force Motors also exports its products to various countries in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

Force aims to be the market leader in Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV). Force Motors is looking to re-engineer its product line to meet the norms and emission standards along with getting into newer segments and expanding dealership network.

Force is expecting to sell 4,000 SUVs in 2011. Also in 2011, it plans to come up with two-three new models of SUVs priced between Rs. 10-12 lakh.  

The company also plans to have a personalized vehicle division which will have 50 dealerships; who will set up workshops and sales outlet for PVs.

Force also has plans to launch a passenger van which will seat 8 or 9 people. This van is will be launched at a price tag of under 10 lakhs, cheaper than the Force SUV. It will come with a diesel engine, which is the OM Series from Daimler.

Head Office

Force Motors Limited
Mumbai-Pune Road,
Akurdi,
Pune - 411035
Maharashtra
Tel: +91-(0)20-27476381, 27404274
Fax: +91-(0)20-27404678
Email: compliance-officer@forcemotors.com
Website: http://forcemotors.com

Pithampur

Force Motors Limited
Pithampur Industrial Area
Pithampur, District - Dhar,
Madhya Pradesh - 454775
Tel: +91-(0)7292-253004
Fax: +91-(0)7292-308180