Tata Tiago sales cross 425,000, Tiago EV to give a new charge

Tata Motors and the Tata Tiago are set to get a new charge with the launch of the hatchback’s electric avatar – the Tiago EV – on September 28. The Tiago will become India’s first ICE and CNG-powered hatchback to also get an electric variant.

The Tiago EV will be the most affordable electric passenger vehicle in India. Slotted in below the Tigor in Tata Motors’s EV pecking order, it is likely to be priced around or slightly above the Rs 10 lakh mark, which has been the consumer ‘white space’ that OEMs would like to achieve. The ex-showroom prices for the 10-variant petrol Tiago start from Rs 537,900 for the manual petrol XE base variant, at Rs 649,900 for the automatic XTA base variants and Rs 627,900 for the XE CNG variant.

From the pricing perspective, the ex-showroom differential for the petrol Nexon and Nexon EV is 96% (Rs 759,000 Nexon XE P / Rs 14.99 lakh Nexon EV) and 108% for the petrol Tigor (Rs 599,000 Tigor XE and Rs 12.49 lakh for the Tigor EV). If the same pricing strategy is maintained, the Tiago EV could be priced around Rs 11 lakh to Rs 11.50 lakh mark. 

   UPDATE: 1pm/September 28: Tiago EV launched at Rs 849,000

Nevertheless, the Tiago EV, the third in Tata Motors’ EV portfolio after the Tigor sedan and the Nexon SUV, will take the promise of low cost of EV ownership to the mass-market hatchback market, which has until now been starved of any mainstream product choice.

While the Tiago EV’s styling should be similar to the recently face-lifted ICE version, the eco-friendly hatchback is expected to share its platform and powertrain with the Tigor EV, which has two separate powertrain options for private (41hp / 105Nm / 21.5kWh battery / 213km range) and fleet buyers (75hp / 170Nm / 26kWh battery / 306km range respectively.

According to Autocar India, the Tiago EV will get multi-mode regenerative braking, which was first introduced with the Nexon EV Max, and then was also made available with the Nexon EV Prime. It is currently not available with the Tigor EV, but it can be expected soon, as all other EVs in Tata’s portfolio have this feature. Regen braking allows users to recharge batteries while driving, and the highest regen level aiding in single-pedal driving. Another feature missing on the Tigor EV that will be available on the Tiago EV is cruise control. The hatchback will also get a drive selector dial with Sports Mode.

Tiago in new EV-atar to accelerate sales
Launched on April 6, 2016, sales of the Tiago in petrol, diesel and more recently in CNG variant, have crossed the 425,000-units mark. Till end-August 2022, cumulative sales were 424,882 units (see data table below).

The Tiago’s best annual sales came in FY2019, when it sold 92,369 units, accounting for 40% of Tata Motors’ total PV sales of 231,512 units. It helped that FY2019 was a record year for overall PV sales – 33,77,436 unit or 3.37 million units. However, sales numbers in the next couple of fiscals declined in the face of the Covid-induced lack of market demand.

EVs as Tata Motors' strategic growth path
Tata Motors has a strong and strategic PV market advantage with its EVs. With every passing year, the share of EVs to the carmaker’s overall passenger vehicle sales (which are seeing strong YoY growth) is increasing. This can be gleaned from the rising trend – 0.06% in FY2018, when it introduced the Tigor EV, to 1% in FY2020, 1.89% in FY2021, 5.15% in FY2022 and7.62% in the first five months of FY2023. The Tiago EV will only help accelerate that and, for the first time, shift some attention from the booming electric SUV market to an eco-friendly hatchback.

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