Tata Motors races to tap booming e-commerce market, holds roadshow in Mumbai

A month-and-a-half after it showcased a varied range of 13 fully built, ready-to-use vehicles in Gurgaon, to meet the requirements of the fast-growing e-commerce industry, Tata Motors today exhibited the range in Mumbai.

Held for the first time in western India (e-Commerce Expo 2019, MMRDA Grounds, BKC, March 6-8), the company says the 13 vehicles – across the SCV, ILCV and M&HCV segments – are fully built solutions exclusively developed to meet every single application, cutting across hub-to-hub-to-spoke transportation and the end-to-end delivery requirements. 

Tata Motors says it has developed these fully built ready-to-use solutions after extensively researching the exacting requirements of the e-commerce industry, engaging with the top e-commerce companies and their vendors and incorporating their requirements in the design and features as desired by them. 

Girish Wagh, President – CVBU, Tata Motors said, “Fueled by rising incomes, increasing government support, and a surge in the internet users, the Indian e-commerce market is expected to grow to US$ 200 billion by 2026 from US$ 38.5 billion in 2017. Today, companies are also increasing their distribution centers and their fleet size to cater to the growing demands of the consumers. We believe the e-Commerce Expo 2019 will act as a platform to address the growing demands of the transporters and e-commerce players and provide them with diverse range of fully-built products with customized features. Through our product offerings, we are shifting the paradigm for new age products and smart solutions.”

Tata Motors says it has a 63% market share in Maharashtra in the last-mile distribution space with its Ace small CV range. At the Mumbai expo, the company has exhibited the Ace Delivery Van for e-commerce goods, Ace Zip panel van for e-commerce packages and Super Ace Mint XPS for heavy goods transportation. The vehicles come with customised payloads and deck lengths to carry light goods like white goods to heavier loads like fruits, vegetables and auto parts. The insulated construction of the container in the Super Ace Mint XPS allows for the temperature-controlled transportation of perishable goods like milk/ milk products/ fruits and vegetables/ meat. 

In FY2019 YTD, Tata Motors has clocked a robust growth of 21 percent on a YoY basis in the SCV Cargo and pick-up segment on the back of the launch of the Ace Gold, Yodha, XL Series in the Ace, Mega and Zip ranges.

Growing ILCV market
For hub-to-spoke transportation requirements, the company displayed a range of Light and Intermediate commercial vehicles on the modern newly launched series of Ultra trucks. The Ultra range, powered by the high-performance Turbotronn engine, has helped Tata Motors’ ILCV segment record a volume growth by 23.5% in FY2019 YTD in Maharashtra.  

On show on the Ultra platform are 24 FT MS Container on Ultra 1518/53, 20 FT MS Container on Ultra 1014/45, 20 FT MS Reefer On Ultra 1014/45, 3 Side Openable - MS Container On Ultra 1518/53, 22 FT MS Container on LPT 1412/48 and 14 Ft MS Container on ULTRA T.7. The Ultra range caters to the e-commerce, industrial goods, auto component, FMCG, agri products, beverages, pharma and white goods industries.

On the M&HCV front, Tata Motors has displayed customised trucks with special advanced features. The 24 Ft refrigerated container on LPT 1613/52 and 32 Ft Refrigerated Container on LPT 2518/68 cater to cold chain supplies like frozen foods, ice cream, dairy products, fruits and vegetables and pharma.

The 31 Ft MS Container on Signa 2818/68 AMT vehicle combines the benefits of a ready-to-use truck equipped with advanced safety, security and surveillance features (like Anti Fuel Theft, Digital Locks, Reverse Parking and In-Container cameras, Load Sensors, Door Opening sensors) and  Automated Manual Transmission and Hill Start Aid. The 32 Ft MS Container on LPT 1618/68 Turbotronn powered by the Tata 5.0L 4 Cylinder Turbotronn engine is designed for excellent benefits on both revenue and TCO aspects. These are suitable for transporting various goods like long haul e-commerce shipments, auto parts, tyres, agri products, white goods, FMCG, parcels and courier.

In Maharashtra, Tata Motors currently has 24 dealerships along with branches of the existing dealers, over 200 sales and service touch-points covering 155 3S service set-ups, 1S sales set-ups, 95 TASSes and contained workshops.