Tata Motors said it was emerging as a serious contender in the passenger vehicle segment in India and was getting ready to give tough competition to Japanese and Korean automakers, which currently dominate the market.
With the introduction of its entry level car Tiago last year, and the initial response to the Hexa utility vehicle that was commercially introduced in Mumbai on Wednesday, Tata Motors is planning to offer products across the entire spectrum of the passenger vehicle segment to gain market share.
Against the promise of two new products every year, Tata Motors could unveil only one product last year. This year it is going to make up for the shortfall by introducing three products. Apart from Hexa, the company will roll out Kite 5, a sedan, and Nexon, a compact SUV, soon.
“Last year, we wanted to make sure that Tiago sends a strong message to the market,” said Guenter Butschek, CEO & MD, Tata Motors. “Since Tiago actually sent this message, we are now in a position to make a huge jump from a car which was priced at the entry level of ₹3 lakh to Hexa which has been introduced with the entry-level price of ₹12 lakh,” he said.
“Tiago managed this up trend. Tiago has very high demand, it has become one of the top 10 best-selling products in the market. Now we are going to the other end of the product range with Hexa,” Mr. Butschek said.
Now that Hexa has been introduced at a competitive price starting Rs 11.99 lakh ex-showroom Delhi, Tata Motors is gearing up to introduce other products in between Tiago and Hexa.
“We will have a complete product range to serve commercial and private customers who will have a full range from entry level to all the way to Hexa,” he said.
The transformation of the loss-making passenger vehicle division started last year and with the introduction of Tiago, the company’s ranking had improved to position four from six last year.
Currently, its product portfolio caters to less than 60% of the passenger vehicle market and it aims to take it up to 100% shortly.
