ICML Rhino S2 - Wild Wild Rhino

There is a new workhorse in the multi-utility segment. Rolling out of ICML's plant in the foothills of the Himalayas, this new beast is ready to shake up the jungle, err... the UV segment

Story: Bunny Punia Photography: Sundeep Gajjar

RACING DOWN THE IN-BUILT TEST track, wading through feet deep water, dancing the car on three-wheels and what not! This was part of my first drive of the new entrant in the MUV segment in India. Yes, an MUV is not at home on a fun track but this track had its share of rumblers, rough road patches, gradients etc and after a good twenty minutes, I had a fair idea of the Rhino, ICML's first passenger vehicle for the multi-utility segment.

International Cars & Motors Ltd (ICML) is a venture of one of India's fastest growing automobile companies, the Sonalika Group. Sonalika's strength lies in manufacturing tractors and they currently are ranked third in this segment in India. They even export these to various countries like South Africa, Sri Lanka, France etc. The Sonalika tractor plant is located at Hoshiarpur in Punjab, an hour's drive from the ICML's plant. The company has invested Rs 200 crore in the new plant, exclusively for ICML at Amb, in the foothills of the Himalayas. Being located in Himachal Pradesh, the company comes under the tax free zone and this benefit will be passed onto the customer.

Before letting me loose on the test track, I was shown around the plant which is spread over 23 acres. Though the plant has the capacity of producing 24,000 units per annum, the company is looking at a much a lower number for the first year to start with. They have already appointed three dealers, all in Punjab and hope to appoint more in the North in the coming months. In fact, the initial response has been so good (both from India and abroad too, yes, international interest has also come the Rhino's way) that the company has already decided to double its initial production targets. Mr Deepak Mittal, MD, ICML also made it clear that they won't go totally national with their sales programme until they have debugged their offering in totality. A good thing this because the Rhino looks promising and this approach can only pay dividends. The company is running many test mules, all in north India and is using the feedback to improve the product. The first major upgrade to the Rhino will happen in five months time and this version would hit showrooms nationally.

Source: Car India April 2006.