Tata Motors plans to have 10-15 new platforms next fiscal from which it will launch commercial vehicles. It expects to spend ₹1,200-1,300 crore on the CV business next year.

“We usually do not push back products during a downturn,” said Ravi Pisharody, Executive Director – Commercial Vehicles. He was talking to BusinessLine here on Wednesday after the company rolled out the 100,000{+t}{+h} unit of the Tata Ace Zip micro-truck. The company achieved this milestone within four years of the launch of the model. The vehicle is the second highest selling variant of the Ace light-truck family.

He said there had been a recovery in the commercial vehicle segment and growth should start happening in 2015-16. The sector had been declining since January 2012, but with signs of recovery in the mining industry, the CV sector, too, should start growing.

There have been various projections for growth, but the company was looking at a 10 per cent growth next financial year, across categories. There was a recovery in manufacturing activity, and the mining industry, which contributed to a great extent to CV sales, had also started seeing some activity, especially in Goa. He also expected the Government to start spending on infrastructure projects, which, too, would provide a boost to CV sales.

Pisharody said the company would continue to launch products for various uses, like the planned roll-out of a new range of Ace light-commercial vehicles that would have passenger car like engine capacity of 1.4l with speed up to 90 km an hour. “We have a plethora of products,” he said.

(The writer was in Dharwad at the invitation of Tata Motors)

Related Topics