It is banking on a multi-powertrain strategy to bring in incremental sales and an aggressively priced EV variant to challenge ICE rivals to accelerate the shift in favour of EVs.
07 Aug 2024 | 2616 Views | By Ketan Thakkar and Prerna Lidhoo
Late to enter the fast-growing mid-size SUV segment, Tata Motors is banking on the SUV Coupe Curvv to disrupt the market, by offering an electric vehicle that comes very close to the price of a petrol automatic vehicle.
Launched at an aggressive price of Rs 17.5 lakh to Rs ...
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Late to enter the fast-growing mid-size SUV segment, Tata Motors is banking on the SUV Coupe Curvv to disrupt the market, by offering an electric vehicle that comes very close to the price of a petrol automatic vehicle.
Launched at an aggressive price of Rs 17.5 lakh to Rs 22 lakh (ex-showroom), Shailesh Chandra, MD of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle business and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility says the company has “achieved price parity with top-end variants of mid-size internal combustion SUV vehicles of rivals.”
With the Curvv EV, the company has addressed the key pain areas for a prospective EV buyer to switch from petrol to zero-emission vehicles, i.e. price parity, higher range of 400, and fast charging, and these factors. Chandra says, “With the aggressive pricing of Curvv, we hope the process of mainstreaming of EVs will accelerate.”
About 13% of the company's total sales come from zero-emission battery electric vehicles, with the Curvv—the company is still in a discovery process. Still, it could range from 15% to 30%.
Along with the aggressive pricing, Tata Motors recently came out with an integrated App called IRA, which offers the visibility of 9000 charging stations from multiple charge point operators under one platform, to facilitate the search for the nearest charging station.
Banking on the multi-powertrain strategy, Tata Motors aims to break into the top three vehicle brands with Curvv in the coming years. The prices for the internal combustion engine variants of petrol and diesel will be announced on September 2, and the company is also studying the possibility of introducing a CNG variant.
The mid-size SUV segment is the most fiercely contested, with over half a dozen brands jostling for market share in the 55,000-unit-per-month market.
The Hyundai Creta is the segment leader by far. At the same time, the Kia Seltos, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Toyota Hyryder, and Honda Elevate, each have their independent product offering an alternative in India's biggest and fastest-growing SUV segment.
Chandra told our sister publication Autocar India, that the company had to bring in something clutter-breaking in a congested segment to stand out and carve a space for itself.
“We chose SUV Coupe because the body style was becoming very popular in the premium and luxury car segment, so we said, why not bring a segment that is clutter breaking, in line with the global trends and democratise something which is in the premium SUV segment in India in a segment, which is going to grow the fastest,” added Chandra, explaining the rationale behind bringing in a Coupe SUV.
While the EV version is built on the born EV Activ architecture, the ICE versions will be based on the new ATLAS platform, which will form the base of future SUVs of all new Atlas platforms and the base of future SUVs of Tata Motors.
The company is non-committal about the potential volumes of the SUV. Sources say it aims to produce 5000 ICE vehicles per month and about 2000 EVs, with a potential incremental output of 70,000 to 80,000 units.
The vehicle will be produced from Tata Motors’ JV facility with Stellantis in Ranjangoan.
Chandra says it is a mainstream play for the company with the Coupe. “There is no reason to make it a niche play. Everything our customer gets and more, is available in the Curvv. The vehicle offers more utilitarian aspects and features equal to the segment, if not more. The car boasts ADAS, technology, styling, and safety features; our model will take the rivals head-on with their conventional ICE vehicles. As we do in other segments, we want to be amongst the top-selling cars in the segment,” asserted Chandra.