Launched on October 18, 2021, the compact SUV sold with petrol, CNG and electric powertrains, continues to punch above its weight in an intensely competitive market and is Tata Motors’ second best-selling product after the Tata Nexon, India’s best-selling utility vehicle in FY2024.
14 Apr 2024 | 21224 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
The Tata Punch has driven past cumulative sales of 350,000 units in the domestic market. Launched on October 18, 2021, the popular Punch has taken 30 months to achieve its latest sales milestone.
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The Tata Punch has driven past cumulative sales of 350,000 units in the domestic market. Launched on October 18, 2021, the popular Punch has taken 30 months to achieve its latest sales milestone.
From the 52,716 units sold in the last six months of FY2022 through to 133,819 units in FY2023, the Tata Punch has recorded 27% year-on-year growth in FY2024 with dispatches of 170,076 units. It also ended FY2024 with a flourish – its March 2024 sales at 17,547 units saw it not only become the best-selling SUV for the month for the first time but also the entire passenger vehicle industry.
The Punch, initially available only with petrol power, continues to punch above its weight and is clearly benefiting from the two new alternate fuel variants introduced in FY2024. While the Punch CNG was launched in August 2023, the Punch EV was introduced into the market in January 2024. The positive market response was immediate – the last six months’ sales of 97,450 units have contributed 57% to the Punch’s FY2024 total.
The Punch’s journey to the 350,000-unit sales has been a rapid one. It had set a new benchmark in the Indian passenger vehicle industry by becoming the first SUV in India to achieve the fastest 100,000 sales milestone in a span of just 10 months. What has helped power demand is the combination of a snazzy design, robust performance and best-in-class 5-star safety. Four days before its launch, on October 14, 2021, the Tata Punch aced the Global NCAP crash test with a 5-star rating (under the previous GNCAP protocol).
The Tata Punch had achieved 150,000 sales in December 2022, 15 months after launch. This means the last 200,000-unit sales have come in the subsequent 20 months, indicative of the higher consumer demand for the compact SUV.
This is laudable given that the Tata Punch is part of the ultra-competitive compact SUV sub-segment which is populated by high-selling models including sibling Nexon, Maruti Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Maruti Fronx, Hyundai Exter, Kia Sonet and Mahindra XUV300, all of them part of the Top 20 best-selling UVs in the country.
Punching above its weight
The Punch, the youngest member of Tata Motors’ ‘New Forever’ range, is offered with both MT and AMT transmission options. The feature-laden SUV comes with a seven-inch touchscreen system, digital instrument cluster, auto AC, automatic headlights, connected car tech, and cruise control. Offering the agility of a hatch with the DNA of an SUV, the Tata Punch has been a consistent member of the Top 10 best-selling UV and cars table, and in March 2024 was the overall No. 1 in India.
The Punch is currently sold in 33 variants – 20 petrol, 5 CNG and 8 electric – offering a wide array of options at different price points to choose from, and catering to a wide spectrum of consumer needs. The pricing starts from Rs 703,000 (on-road Delhi) for the base Pure petrol-engined Punch through to Rs 803,000 for the base Pure CNG variant and to Rs 15.43 lakh for the top-end Empowered+ LR top-end Punch EV. The 1.2-litre petrol Punch delivers fuel efficiency of 18.82kpl in Manual and 18.97kpl in AMT.
The Punch CNG is powered by the same 1.2-litre, three-cylinder engine mated a 5-speed manual gearbox. This engine, which develops 86hp and 113Nm of torque in petrol guise and, in CNG spec, max power of 77hp and 97Nm of peak torque. Like the Tiago and Tigor CNG, the Punch can also be started directly in CNG mode, a feature not offered by any of its rivals.
A big USP for the Punch CNG is the boot space. Tata Motors has managed to tackle the issue of low boot space with a new dual-cylinder setup, splitting the otherwise large 60-litre tank that would take up nearly all boot space. The twin cylinders, each 30 litres in capacity, have been positioned under the boot floor to free up storage space.
The Punch EV, which looks like its sibling Nexon EV, is offered with a choice of two battery options; a 25kWh battery with around 315km of MIDC range and a 35kWh battery with around 421km of MIDc range. There are two charger options available, a 3.3kW wall box charger and a 7.2kW fast charger. The Punch EV supports DC fast charging and can be charged from 10- 80 percent in 56mins using a 50kW DC fast charger. Power is sent to the front wheels via a 122hp, 190Nm motor on the Long Range variants, and a 81hp, 114Nm motor on the regular variants. According to Tata Motors, the Long Range variants do the 0-100kph sprint in under 9.5 seconds and the EV has a water-wading capacity of 350mm.
The Punch is likely to get a mid-life update later this year. What's more, it could also get six airbags as standard fitment to maintain its lead over the Hyundai Exter compact SUV.
Expect the Punch which, like some other Tata Motors passenger vehicles is making handsome gains from a multi-powertrain strategy, to continue achieving strong sales in FY2025. Will it dethrone sibling Nexon from the top spot this fiscal? That’s a punchy question, the answer to which will be known only next April.
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