Tata Motors races towards record PV and EV sales in FY2022

At end-November, Tata Motors is just 10,003 units shy of its total PV sales of 212,022 units in FY2021 and could hit 330,000 units by end-March. And its EV sales at 7,756 units have already scaled a new high with four months left to go for FY2022.

Tata Motors is on a roll and how. The Mumbai-based manufacturer of passenger vehicles (PVs) and electric vehicles (EVs), which has achieved a remarkable turnaround on the back of a young and dynamic product portfolio, is headed for a record fiscal year 2022. 

With eight months of the fiscal over, Tata Motors has clocked robust numbers in both PV and EV segments. In November 2021, the company was at No 3 in the PV pecking order and clocked strong 38% year-on-year growth with sale of 29,778 units. Do the math for cumulative sales in the year to date and what you get is a total of 212,022 units, which is 10,003 units shy of the 222,025 units the carmaker sold in all of FY2021, when it clocked 69% YoY growth.

Given that it has been averaging monthly sales of over 29,000 units for the past four months, the FY2021 total sales maarrk will be crossed in December 2021 itself. This also means Tata Motors is headed towards notching sales of an estimated 330,000 units this year. At this stage in the fiscal, it has registered solid 85% YoY growth. 

In full charge of the EV story
On the EV front, the company is fully plugged in to the growth story and at half-way stage in FY2022 had already crossed its FY2021 sales total of 4,219 units. Between April and September 2021, 4,419 Tata EVs had been sold, accounting for 70.57% of the total EV sales in first-half FY2022. At this point, the Nexon EV – India’s best-selling EV – had 3,618 units to its credit and a 58% market share, while the Tigor EV with 801 units had 13% and was third-placed on the EV sales chart after the MG ZS EV.

Tata Motors EVs have maintained the growth momentum in October 2021 and November 2021 with 1,586 units and 1,751 units respectively through three models – Nexon, Tigor and the X-Pres T EV – taking its eight-month (April-November) total to 7,756 units.  

The company has expanded its portfolio with the addition of the Tigor EV which was launched on August 31 at an aggressive Rs 11.99 lakh. Also, recognising the growing demand from fleet users, Tata introduced the Xpres-T EV in mid-September. On October 29, the company bagged a supply order from Delhi-NCR electric fleet operator BluSmart for 350 Xpres-T EVs

The eight-month cumulative sales of 7,756 units constitute 272% YoY growth (April-November 2020: 2,087). Given the average monthly sales of 969 units, and four months to go for FY2022 to close, Tata Motors could be close to the 12,000-unit EV sales mark this fiscal. If this sales figure is attained, it will mean that EVs will account for a 3.6% of total PV sales for the company. Of course, Tata Motors has the advantage in the EV segment in India, given that there is hardly any competition to write home about.

Growth outlook
Given the sales momentum the Tata Motors brand has in the PV and EV markets, there is little to slow down its growth. If at all, the semiconductor supply crisis, which is impacting all carmakers in different proportions, could prove to be a hiccup or two. In early November, P B Balaji, CFO, Tata Motors had said: “The average waiting time for most (Tata Motors’) passenger vehicles is around 6-8 weeks. For the more popular models, it is around 9-10 weeks and for electric vehicles, it is up to 6 months waiting time.”

For the moment though there is little to stop Tata in its tracks. The recently launched Tata Punch micro-SUV, is also expected to punch above its weight and has been tasked with helping increase the company’s UV market share to 10% from around 6% at present.

What is also helping the company’s PV fortunes is the growing safety consciousness amongst car and SUV buyers in India and with a portfolio that includes Global NCAP five-star-rated products like the Nexon, Altroz and Punch, and four-star siblings like the Tigor EV, Tata along with Mahindra & Mahindra are leveraging their safety expertise at the marketplace.