Reduction in battery costs drives sharp cut in the sticker price of the high-selling Nexon.ev and Tiago.ev; no change in recently launched Punch.ev price or for Tigor.ev. India's fast-growing electric car and SUV market is seeing OEMs battle for market share.
13 Feb 2024 | 7357 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd (TPEM), a subsidiary of Tata Motors, the market leader in the electric passenger vehicle segment with an over 70% share, has slashed prices of two of its high-selling models – the Nexon.ev and the Tiago.ev – as a result of reduced battery prices.
While ...
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Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd (TPEM), a subsidiary of Tata Motors, the market leader in the electric passenger vehicle segment with an over 70% share, has slashed prices of two of its high-selling models – the Nexon.ev and the Tiago.ev – as a result of reduced battery prices.
While the starting price of the Medium Range (MR) Nexon.ev stands reduced by Rs 25,000 to Rs 14.49 lakh, the Long Range (LR) Nexon.ev’s pricing now opens at Rs 16.99 lakh – down by Rs 120,000, which translates into a sharp 6% price reduction. The Nexon.ev’s hatchback sibling, the Tiago.ev, launched in January 2023, now has a starting price of Rs 799,000 for the base model, down by up to 70,000.
Prices for the recently launched Punch.ev remain unchanged as they already factor in reduction in battery price in the foreseeable future, says the company. The price for the Tigor.ev also remain unchanged.
Commenting on the price reduction, Vivek Srivatsa, Chief Commercial Officer, TPEM, said: “Battery costs constitute a substantial part of the overall cost of an EV. With battery cell prices having softened in the recent past and considering their potential reduction in the foreseeable future, we have chosen to proactively pass on the resulting benefits directly to customers.”
He added, “While EVs have grown rapidly over the last few years, our mission is to accelerate the mainstream adoption of EVs by making them more accessible nationwide. Our portfolio already offers a wide choice of body styles, range and price points for our smart, feature-rich EVs. We believe that at these accessible prices, the best-selling Nexon.ev and Tiago.ev become an even more compelling proposition to attract a larger pool of customers.”
Upping the ante in EV market that's seeing growing competition
With this sizeable price cut, Tata Motors clearly wants to up the ante in a market which is seeing growing competition in the form of new products. The price cut in its two best-selling EVs comes on the back of the company registering its best-ever monthly wholesales performance yet in January 2024: 53,633 units. This is the first time that the company has clocked over 50,000-unit sales in a month, a performance which constitutes strong 13% YoY increase (January 2023: 47,987 PVs).
The January 2024 wholesales include best-ever monthly EV despatches of 6,979 EVs, which effectively translate into an EV penetration level of 13 percent for the month.
Tata Motors’ accelerated growth in the past couple of years has also a result of its first-mover advantage in India’s fast-growing electric vehicle market, where it has an over 70% market share. The company currently retails the Nexon EV, Tigor EV and Xpres-T (for fleet buyers), the Tiago EV and the recently launched Punch EV at Rs 10.99 lakh.
In CY2023, Tata Motors sold 69,153 EVs, which was strong 59.15% YoY growth (CY2022: 43,451 EVs). This also meant a marked increase in the company’s EV penetration levels – to 12.55% from 8.24% in CY2022.
India's electric car and SUV market is now buzzing with new as well as updated products. On January 11, 2024, Mahindra & Mahindra launched tne new all-electric XUV400 Pro SUV range at introductory prices (applicable to deliveries till May 31, 2024) starting from Rs 15.49 lakh and going up to Rs 17.49 lakh for the new top-spec EL Pro variant. While the EC Pro (375km range) and the EL Pro both get the 34.5kWh battery, the latter is also available with the larger 39.4kWh battery, which gives it a claimed range of 456km.
Earlier this month, on February 2, MG Motor India slashed the price of its Comet EV by Rs 99,000 to Rs 699,000, and expanded the ZS EV range with a new ZS EV Executive variant priced at Rs 18.99 lakh.
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