Tata Motors Aims To Become Third-Largest Carmaker In India By 2020

The auto industry in India is currently dominated by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., which recently achieved a whopping 49 per cent market share. The Japanese car firm is followed by South Korean auto major Hyundai Motor Company, which entered India in 1996 and has since strengthened its place as one of the most reliable car marques in India.

On the other hand, Tata Motors, which has been in the automotive business for much longer in India, has never managed to make its mark in the passenger vehicle sector. Over the years, the home-grown carmaker has sold good numbers, but only managed to cater to the cab service providers across the country. Now, though, Tata Motors has set itself the target of becoming the third-largest passenger vehicle manufacturer by 2020.

To achieve this feat, the Indian automaker is lining up a range of products for the domestic market, which will help in pushing it from the fifth position (in terms of volume, at present) to the third position. Currently, Tata Motors is catering only to 60 per cent of the passenger vehicle segments available in the market. The company doesn’t have products in various segments, such as compact SUV, executive sedan and premium hatchback segments. Put together, these three segments can help Tata Motors to clock considerably higher sales numbers, which could potentially help them achieve the 2020 goal.

While expanding the model range to feed all car segments is part of the strategy, the home-grown auto major also plans to cut costs by reducing the number platforms on which the cars will be built.

Speaking to PTI, Mayank Pareek, president, passenger vehicles business unit, Tata Motors, said, “We have finalised our product plan for the next five years. Today, Tata Motors covers less than 60 per cent of the total market and one of the things on which we focused during the product strategy is to increase our footprint in 100 per cent of the market. The 40 per cent space that we are not in constitutes some of the very obvious segments. We are not there, for example, in the premium hatchback segment. So that's one obvious wide space for us. Similarly, in the executive sedan segment and compact SUVs we are not there." 

While the company is working hard to address the quality-related issues that have plagued its products, Pareek shared that the company is also trying to strengthen its service network across the country.

Tata Motors launched its Tiago hatchback earlier this year and it has received an overwhelming response. It is the first car to be crafted on Tata Motor’s new design philosophy – Impact design. The Hexa crossover, which is slated to launch in January 2017, will be the company’s second product carved out of the same design philosophy.