Tata Motors has reported domestic market sales of 46,143 units in November 2023, down 1% year on year (November 2022: 46,425 units). This is the third instance of a monthly decline in the past eight months of this fiscal.

Cumulative sales for the first eight months of FY2024 are 374,169 units, up 2.51% on year-ago sales of 364,983 units in April-November 2022. Given that the company had registered all-time high fiscal sales of 544,391 units in FY2023, cumulative sales of 328,026 units in April-October 2023 are already 69% of that score. However, Tata Motors has is also witnessing increasing competition. 

In the fiscal year to date, the company has sold 48,187 EVs, which translates into a 13% share of its PV sales, and YoY growth of 59% (April-November 2022: 30,215 EVs).

The company is among the few passenger vehicle OEMs with multiple powertrains spanning petrol, diesel, CNG and electric and currently has a seven-model portfolio comprising four SUVs (Nexon, Punch, Harrier, Safari), two hatchbacks (Tiago and Altroz) and one sedan (Tigor).

Despite the PV industry seeing demand slow down for sedans and hatchbacks, Tata Motors has been among the few OEMs to buck the downturn. In the first six months of FY2024, Tata’s car and sedan share increased to 13% from 10% a year ago. Tata, which has three cars in this segment (Altroz, Tiago and Tigor), clearly is benefiting from its multi-fuel and multi-powertrain strategy. The company’s move to counter fresh competition in the form of the Hyundai Exter CNG with the Tata Punch CNG  would also have helped draw buyers.

October saw the launch of the facelifted Harrier and Safari SUVs, both of which achieved a top 5-star rating in the Global NCAP test. While these two models would have seen initial sales in the festive season months of October and November, their numbers should see an upward movement in the coming months.

FIRST-MOVER EV-ADVANTAGE

On the EV front, where Tata Motors is the market leader, the company sold 4,761 units, up 7% YoY (November 2022: 4,451 units) but down 12.88% on October 2023’s 5,465 EVs. In the fiscal year to date, the company has sold 48,187 EVs, which translates into a 13% share of its total passenger vehicle sales, and YoY growth of 59% (April-November 2022: 30215 EVs).

Tata Motors’ EV presence covers three body styles – sedan (Tigor / X-Pres T, SUV (Nexon.ev) and hatchback (Tiago.ev) – which cater to both the premium and mass market customer segments. This eco-friendly stable of zero-emission cars and SUVs has helped the company reach out towards its target audience – both personal EV buyers and EV fleet buyers.

While the Nexon.ev continues to be the model with the maximum demand and the Tiago.ev the most affordable hatchback on four wheels, the company continues to benefit from demand from fleet operators, who achieve substantial gains from wallet-friendly EVs as compared to petrol, diesel or even CNG-powered cars. The bulk of the sales for the Tigor EV are for the X-Pres T fleet-only EV. 

Tata Motors is also upping the ante in EVs, given that a Punch EV, equipped with a front charging slot, was snapped testing recently. What’s more, in a measure designed to generate additional manufacturing capacity at its Pune plant, the company is de-bottlenecking its ALFA modular architecture setup. These include engineering modifications such as adding extra rows or spots on assembly lines, both to augment capacity and also speed up production. Furthermore, the exercise is expected to help accommodate multiple car models as well as making the assembly lines and paint shop more adaptable to roll out multiple variants.

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