Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Tata Motors hopes to reclaim market share with new models
Mumbai: Tata Motors Ltd,
India’s largest auto maker by revenue, plans to launch two new models—a
compact sedan and a hatchback—next year in a bid to arrest a decline in
volumes and market share.
The new models are part of the company’s project named Falcon (5/4), saidRanjit Yadav,
head of passenger vehicle business unit, in an interview on Tuesday.
“These will be completely new, performance-oriented models with consumer
benefits focused around driving pleasure and connectivity, and the
first proof-point to consumers that there is a new Tata Motors in the passenger vehicle business,” added Yadav.
Tata Motors will introduce the two new models in the passenger vehicle
business under a yet-unnamed brand after a gap of three years. The
company launched the Aria in 2010.
Designed with inputs from the company’s technical centre in Europe, Tata
Motors will showcase the models in petrol and diesel versions at the
Auto Expo in Delhi in February and launch them later in the year.
The vehicle platform, re-engineered from the company’s existing X1 platform on which the Indica Vista and Manza models are based, will spawn many more models in the future, said Yadav.
Tata Motors also plans to export the new models to markets such as South
Africa, Indonesia and Thailand. The sale in these countries, however,
will start only in 2015, according to Yadav who hopes these passenger
cars will help the company regain volumes and market share.
The maker of Safari and
Indica models, which used to be the third largest passenger vehicle
maker till the last fiscal year, lost its position to rivalMahindra and Mahindra Ltd.
From April to October, Tata Motors’ sales fell 35% to 128,263 units
from a year ago, according to industry lobby Society of Indian
Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Its market share in the first half of
the fiscal year dwindled to 8.98% from 13.18%.
SUMIT KUMAR SINGH
PGDM 1ST
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