Tata Motors, the country’s largest automobile company in terms of revenue, has seen many ups and downs in its journey as a passenger car maker. It’s products such as Indica and Indigo are mostly used for commercial purpose. But, this perception is changing. The company has worked around a new design and architecture in the recent past and has launched products like the Tiago, Zest and Hexa, which have many personal users and the numbers are growing. It has lined up another model — Tigor — a compact sedan, based on the Tiago platform, for launch on March 29. Unlike the regular three-box sedan with its boot lid, the ‘Styleback’ has a coupé-like profile and Tata Motors expects to reach out to young customers who are looking to upgrade their hatchback. The company has opened pre-bookings of Tigor from Monday at ₹5,000. In an interview with BusinessLine , Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicle Business, Tata Motors, shares features about the car as well as the company’s expansion plans. Excerpts:

You seem very confident about Tigor. What was the response from consumers to your research/studies about this car?

Without customer feedback, we wouldn’t have come out with such a car. The trick in this business is that you should anticipate the game, and once you do that, you can play the game. We started conceptualising this car three years ago, and our first words to designers was ‘give me a car which is built on same platform as Tiago, but looks completely different and has a road presence when you see it from 100 metres’. And that worked. This car is all about design and infotainment. Our confidence is born out of that.

What are your marketing plans for this product? How does it fit into a segment?

It’s a sedan with a styleback. It is actually a sedan with a boot that is well designed, and we will market it accordingly. We got a lot of good responses at the Geneva Motor Show recently and it will be more exciting here…fashion never goes out of style. For instance, what we did with Hexa was different — we asked consumers to experience the drive — and test drive in extreme conditions. We did that in six cities. Now, we are doing this in 25 more cities, as word of mouth spreads. Our core, which we are changing with Tigor, is — huge experience for the consumer and focus on impact design —and a different experience for consumers at dealerships.

One of our challenges was after-sales service. We worked on that and decided that if complaints comes to the head office, we will resolve those the same day. Today, decision-making of a car happens on dining tables, and a lot of research is done online, but some consumers get more confused. That is where word of mouth becomes a critical ingredient for success in this market. That is why we made our after-sales stronger so that word of mouth is generated through workshops.

How much would such experiences make your market share grow?

The results are decent. The market is likely to grow by 10 per cent, and we will grow by 20 per cent plus this year. Next year, the market is expected to grow by 10 per cent again. As a company, we are covering only around 59 per cent of the Indian market and we are not present in some key segments. Going forward, we will fill these segments with our new product language and new product architecture. The product language in terms of ‘impact’ design and architecture means less number of platforms in more products. In future, we will have only two platforms, but many more products. Our play will increase from 59 per cent to near 100 per cent.

Things have changed in the past few years from Indica/Indigo to Tiago, Hexa, and Tigor. But what’s happening to the design language of products like Nano and Safari Storme?

In India, a product life cycle is a bit longer than any of the markets in the world. But, similar things will happen here also…products will come, get matured, will get a boost, and then some will disappear. Like what we did with Vista, Manza, which we discontinued. Some products will get discontinued because of new regulations, too. As a company, we will decide whether it’s good to put technologies in these old products or take out new products.

So, will you discontinue the Nano any time soon?

Right now, it is still our product. Nano still serves a purpose in some markets such as Kerala, in some pockets of Uttar Pradesh and Nasik. One of the reasons for lower sales was demonetisation over the past few months.

How many products are you planning to launch by 2020?

We are not in segments like compact SUV, where we will be launching one, during Diwali this year, called Nexon. We don’t have a premium hatchback and we should be there. We are not in mid-size sedan, van segment and, by 2020, we will be in more than 90 per cent of the segments. That also gives us the advantage of a growing market share, as we are working towards ‘customers for life’ and winning back consumers.

How will you expand your reach?

That’s another big challenge, and is important for a car company. The network is critical, as it is important to be near the customer. We have around 720 sales networks right now and plan to reach around 1,500 by 2020. But, that will not be enough, and we will have to increase gradually. We are in resurgence. You can call it the resurgence of Tata Motors.

What are your expansion plans for the Gujarat plant where Tiago and now Tigor are being manufactured?

We have a capacity of around two lakh units and, based on response to Tigor, may run on full utilisation over the next 18 months.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW