Tata cars strikes a chord with GenNext

Tata Motors’ efforts on rebooting its passenger car business have been paying off lately with over 80 per cent of sales now coming in from the individual owner segment. This is a big jump from the not-so-distant past when the commercial/fleet category accounted for a third.

“We were known as a strong fleet player but after the launch of Tiago in 2016, more individual customers have come into our brand,” says Vivek Srivatsa, Head, Marketing, Passenger Vehicle Unit. “Now, with the recent introduction of the compact SUV Nexon, we expect the share to cross 90 per cent.”

In addition, there are now a whole lot of young buyers queuing up for the Tata brand. “Tiago customers are younger than their Nano counterparts,” he says. “Hexa buyers are also younger than those opting for Tigor even though it is a lot pricier.” This trend is expected to gain further momentum with the Nexon where nearly 50 per cent of enquiries are from a base that is less than 34 years old. Till a few years ago, the average age of buyers for Tata cars were in the 38-40 age group.

According to Srivatsa, the biggest difference in recent times has been in the design of new models that has struck a big chord with customers. “We have not gone for flashy designs but something more mature, which is attractive,” he says.

Apart from design, connectivity and the value-for-money focus has also helped. Today, 70-80 per cent of demand is for top-end variants, which includes expensive options like the Hexa. “It means that we are selling vehicles not just at competitive prices but at the right value too,” says Srivatsa.

The company is also pulling out all stops to become far more customer-oriented where digital is playing a big role at dealerships. Today, close to 85 per cent of prospective car buyers approach a brand online.

Tata has put in place a digital strategy where information about the vehicle is made available easily. A call centre then follows up on enquiries and dealerships take this to the next level.

“We have started giving out-of-showroom test drives and send vehicles to prospective buyers’ offices or homes, says Srivasta. “Cars are also given for weekend drives.” By the end of the day, every customer has to be won.

Experiential marketing has also played a big role especially with the Hexa where test drives were offered months before its launch. The same was replicated for Nexon where the drive experience will grow from three cities to 15 cities by the end of this month. “This is part of our strategy to engage with customers actively,” says Srivatsa.

It was a couple of years ago when Mayank Pareek, President of the Passenger Vehicle Business, articulated his objective of making Tata cars feature in the consideration list of brands. Once this was in place, the numbers would follow as is being seen now.

What is even more encouraging has been the welcome change in perception gleaned from the net promoter score or NPS. Where the ratio was 100:105 (minus 5) two years ago, it is now 100:88 (plus 12). Simply put, it means that the brand detractors have fallen from 105 to 88 while its promoters now form a larger number.

NPS is effectively the net value of two things: how many people are talking good and, how many bad, about a brand. It, therefore, becomes a useful tool to gauge customer satisfaction and the revival for brand Tata clearly means that products such as Tiago and Hexa have been doing the right things.

Given that the Nexa compact SUV is part of the fastest growing product segment, the company will be hoping that the NPS will be even stronger in a year from now. The vehicle could also help expand the nationwide reach from the present level of 59 per cent of the market to over 65 per cent. The ultimate goal is to be up to 90 per cent by 2020.

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