Tata Motors is betting big on its new set of launches in the personal vehicle space over the next 18 months in addition to an overall positive market.
A little over a decade ago, Tata Motors was one of the few automakers in India with a market share of 10 percent having the Indica and a couple of other models on sale. Over the years, the automaker’s market share has deteriorated dramatically and currently stands at 5.7 percent. Most obviously, the concerned automaker is now looking to win back its lost market share and has set a target to double segment sales to over 4 lakh units by the year 2020.
Tata Motors is projecting the Indian passenger vehicle market to reach 4.1 million units by the end of this decade and the automaker is aiming to hold on to a significant chunk of that pie. The company in a latest meeting with its vendors and suppliers urged to improve their quality and scale up to global levels so that Tata can compete more aggressively with global giants that are making their way into the domestic market. While the last three years have been sluggish, the manufacturer projects the next couple of years to be positive, not to forget an onslaught of new products planned that will fuel its growth.
Tata’s future lineup comprises of at least four major products including the Kite-4 hatchback, Kite-5 compact sedan, Hexa crossover and Nexon compact SUV that will be launched over the next 18 months. The company is also developing a new Advanced Modular Platform (AMP) that will be a key driver of growth and is expected to have 70 percent similarities and 60 percent parts sharing, helping the automaker achieve higher economies of scale. It also informed the vendors that the company is developing future technologies and may be ready with BS V and VI compliant engines, much before the emission norms come into effect.
For the commercial vehicle market, Tata Motors plans to combat the arrival of global players in India with a new range of affordable trucks called Signa and the increase in mining and infrastructure activity is expected to help the automaker grow 25-30 percent in medium and heavy truck segment over the next 12-24 months. The commercial space grew by around 30 percent in medium and heavy segments retailing 64,279 units. The small commercial vehicle segment remains sluggish though. Interestingly, Tata conveyed to its vendors that it is studying the quadricycle space and isn’t ruling out the possibility of entering the same in the future.
Source – EconomicTimes.com
