Tata launches its 1109 Ex2 truck in TN

Tata Motors recently launched its 1109 Ex2 light truck in Chennai. This intermediate commercial vehicle is designed to offer additional payload of 600kg (12500 GVW). It is powered by a 90 PS four-cylinder turbocharged inter-cooled engine with a maximum torque of 325 Nm. It bears a stronger frame, has power steering and a clutch booster for easy driveability.

The 1109 Ex2 comes with a warranty of 18 months or 150,000 kilometres and a longer service interval at 20,000 kilometres. It is priced at Rs 8.85 lakh (ex-showroom, Chennai). Speaking at the launch, R Ramakrishnan, head - sales and marketing, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, said: "The Ex2 represents a defined set of product improvements like power steering, clutch boosters, and improvements in service intervals. We are very pleased to launch our 1109 in its Ex2 avatar for our Chennai customers."

Anil Kapoor, head - sales and marketing, Small and Light Trucks, added: "The Tata 1109 Ex2 offers more payloads, which directly impacts a customer's business growth. What's more, the Ex2 features give the new 1109 a competitive features-to-price ratio which we believe will more than match our customers’ needs."

The new Ex2 series is a result of an initiative taken at Tata Motors called ‘Responsive Innovation’. The vehicle has been launched after extensive customer interaction and benchmarking of products with competitor products. Tata has a 50 percent marketshare in this segment and sells close to 1000 vehicles every month. More than 50,000 units of the 1109 are on road.

For this product segment in Tamil Nadu, Tata started the financial year with a marketshare of 32 percent and has since gained an additional 15 percent. Currently Tata Motors commands a marketshare of 47 to 48 percent of the 1109 model in Tamil Nadu and the company is keen to increase this to 60 percent in the next year.

“From April 1, 2010 there will be a change in emission norms. India will move to BS III and 14 cities will move to BS IV. At that stage the complete product range has to migrate from the current level to BS III and BS IV. The complete range of our products will go through emission migration. Beyond just emission compliance, we are looking at providing more value to our customers. Better fuel efficiency, reliability and durability. In some of the products we will offer higher power-to-weight ratio, which will improve trip time and therefore offers additional revenue to the operator. Our complete product range will undergo a change at that point of time,” Ramakrishnan added.