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Tata Motors has become the top player by volumes in the small commercial vehicle segment (which includes mini trucks and pick-ups), displacing incumbent Mahindra & Mahindra, supported by aggressive product strategy that not only helped fill the gaps in its product portfolio but also provided an edge over the competition.
In April-December 2021 period, total SCV volumes (including both mini truck and pick-up numbers) of Tata Motors stood at 1,13,867 units compared to Mahindra & Mahindra’s 1,11,682 units. In FY21, Mahindra’s total SCV volumes were at 151,889 units, while Tata’s sales were at 137,255 units
Mahindra maintained a leadership position in the SCV segment till FY21 with its dominance in the pick-up segment where it maintained a huge sales gap with Tata Motors till some months ago. But with several new product launches, Tata managed to boost its volumes both in the mini and pick-up segments in the past several months and also reduce the sales gap with Mahindra in the pick-up segment.
“Based on extensive customer feedback, our SCV product range has been curated to perfectly suit a wide gamut of applications, at the right price point. As a result, its retail sales have seen a rise of 80 per cent during July-December 2021. We have gained market share in the SCV segment, consistently, on the basis of high brand value, lower TCO, best-in-class fuel efficiency on all the fuel options (petrol, diesel and CNG) and backed up by Tata Motors’ widest sales and service network,” said Rajesh Kaul, Vice-President, Sales & Marketing, Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles Business Unit.
Tata’s present SCV portfolio addresses the requirements in the first and last-mile transportation segment through a good mix of sub-brands, starting from the most affordable SCV, the Tata Ace Cx petrol.
“The Ace, with its petrol, CNG and diesel + variants, continues to be the undisputed leader in the SCV segment, driving large volumes for Tata Motors. The Tata Intra (V10 and V30) has consistently been the preferred choice in the pick-up segment and has been growing sequentially month-over-month. In the higher end of the pick-up segment, the Yodha continues to gradually and consistently grow its market share, due to its superior performance and total cost of ownership,” said Kaul.
In the pick-up segment, Tata’s volumes have grown to about 42,000 units during the nine-month period of this fiscal against 32,000 units a year ago, while Mahindra’s pick-up volumes have come down to 90,348 units from 94,125 units. In FY21, Mahindra’s pick-up volumes were at 128,100 units, while Tata sold 50,491 pick-ups.
CNG vehicles
Also, the growing shift from diesel vehicles to CNG-powered vehicles due to better operating economics has aided Tata Motors’ SCV volume growth as it offers CNG variants in its successful models. The share of CNG vehicles in the SCV segment reached about 33 per cent compared to about 5 per cent in FY21. Also, the share of Tata Ace CNG in the Tata Ace family is higher at about 40 per cent.
During the nine-month period of this fiscal, total SCV volumes stood at 285,340 units compared to 251,876 units in the year-ago period.
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