Tata Motors' passenger vehicle sales may remain flat in FY16

Tata Motors is on a drive to revive its passenger vehicle business in India but the turnaround, in terms of overall sales, could take some more time. The company is expecting its cumulative sales of passenger vehicles during April 2015-March 2016 to be between 135,000 to 140,000 units. During the last financial year, the company's passenger vehicle sales stood at 134,080 units, a 3 percent drop over the previous year.

The company would have projected better numbers had the Zica compact car been launched this month as planned. But the launch has been delayed as Tata Motors decided to rebrand the car as its name sounds the same as the virus Zika. "That (the new car) would have given us more (sales volume). We will try to catch up later," S N Barman, vice-president (sales and network), Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors, told Autocar Professional.

The prospects look better for Tata Motors in 2016-17 as it will have at least two new products – Hexa SUV and Kite5 compact sedan – which will try to ride the growing wave in their respective segments. Along with the new models, team Tata Motors is also working on enhancing customer experience. Last year, the company was ranked No. 3 in customer satisfaction index by market research firm J D Power. "We are trying to work on customer experience very, very closely. At the end of the day, the customer should get a good buying experience and after buying should get good service experiences," says Barman.

Also read: Tata Motors’ global sales up 16% in January 2016