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After facing extremely weak sales in 2016, Tata Motors’ Commercial Vehicles head feels the first quarter of 2017 will help the company regain the lost momentum.
“BSIV emission standard will come in place for commercial vehicles starting April this year. Given the higher cost of vehicles and also higher maintenance cost for BSIV-compliant vehicles, we expect buying to go up significantly in the first quarter (January-March). Whether the growth will be 30 per cent or 50 per cent, we are yet to see,” Ravi Pisharody, Executive Director, Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors, told BusinessLine .
Pisharody said the growth in 2017 would partially be due to the pent-up demand in the past couple of years wherein customers were delaying their purchases. The company will also be launching many products this year.
On Tuesday, Tata Motors launched its pick-up truck Tata Xenon Yodha, which is an upgrade to its previous Tata Xenon at a price starting ₹6.05 lakh for the BSIII model and ₹6.19 lakh for the BSIV variant.
The new model comes with a more powerful engine and an increased payload capacity of 1,250 kg versus one tonne capacity for the previous model.
Powered by a common rail diesel engine, Yodha is being positioned as the smart pick-up that claims to offer a low-cost of ownership as well as high profitability. Tata Motors is also providing the ‘Buy back inaugural offer’, under which the customer can get 50 per cent cost of the vehicle after four years of usage.
Pisharody said, “Besides bolstering our presence in the growing pick-up space, the new Xenon Yodha will also enable us to partner existing mini-truck customers, aspiring the next phase of growth, to upgrade to a reliable stylish pick-up particularly in the post GST regime.”
Brand ambassadorTata Motors also signed up Akshay Kumar as the brand ambassador for its commercial vehicles.
“Ten years ago, we had 90 per cent market share. But today, we have 7-8 competitors in each of the segments we are present in. Therefore, we also need to evolve our marketing initiatives,” Pisharody said, while explaining the need to get a brand ambassador.
With new products, Tata Motors hopes that not only the domestic market but even exports will pick up. “We expect our exports to grow 20-25 per cent in FY-17,” Pisharody said.
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