Sustained demand for its cars and SUVs sees Tata Motors clock new milestone; having clocked 4-million units on October 24, 2020, the last million have rolled out in a little over two years.
03 Mar 2023 | 8789 Views | By Autocar Pro News Desk & Ajit Dalvi
Tata Motors’ passenger vehicle division has recorded a new milestone – production of 5 million units. The company, which has been registering strong double-digit growth over the past couple of years, achieved this milestone today. To celebrate the big number, the company and its staffers used the ‘New Forever’ range ...
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Tata Motors’ passenger vehicle division has recorded a new milestone – production of 5 million units. The company, which has been registering strong double-digit growth over the past couple of years, achieved this milestone today. To celebrate the big number, the company and its staffers used the ‘New Forever’ range of Tata cars and SUVs to create a ‘50-lakh’ visual formation.
Tata Motors began manufacturing passenger vehicles back in 1991, with the first model being the Sierra, followed by the Estate and the Sumo in 1994. Since then, the brand has introduced multiple models, including the Indica, which has been one of India’s most popular passenger vehicles.
While the one-million production mark was achieved in 2004, the second million came up six years later in 2010. The carmaker took another five years to drive past the three-million mark in 2015 and four million units on October 24, 2020. This means the journey from four- to five million units has taken just 28 months.
Tata Motors' growing stature in the India’s PV market, which scaled a new high of 3.8 million units in CY2022, can be ascertained from the fact that it produced the last million units within three years, which is indicative of the sustained demand it is witnessing for its products. The past two years have seen Tata Motors cement its position as the No. 3 carmaker after Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai Motor India.
In CY2022, Tata Motors recorded its best-ever annual wholesales – over half-a-million units (526,798) and sterling 59% YoY growth, driven by demand for its products.
With strong 59% YoY growth, Tata Motors has also made the maximum gains in PV market share which has increased by 3 percentage points to 13.97% in CY2022 from 10.91% in CY2021. The company closed CY2022 just 25,713 units behind No. 2 player Hyundai Motor India.
The company, which retails seven PVs – Altroz, Tigor, Tiago, Nexon, Punch, Harrier and the Safari – has capitalised on surging demand for its SUVs, particularly the Nexon and the Punch which are currently the best-selling and the No. 4 SUVs respectively in the Indian market. It is, at present, the SUV market leader with an 18.27% share.
What has also helped Tata Motors’ accelerated growth is its first-mover advantage in the fast-growing electric vehicle market, where it has an over 80% market share. The company retails the Nexon EV, Tigor EV and Xpres-T (for fleet buyers) and has recently launched the Tiago EV.
Commenting on the 5-million milestone, Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility said, “This journey, from each million to the next, has been one replete with its fair share of ups and downs. The brand is respected by its customers for bringing several new technologies and we express our gratitude for the tremendous support by our customers, employees, suppliers, channel partners and government for their continued support. We remain committed to continuously innovate and be a leading stakeholder in moving the future of mobility ahead in India with safer, smarter and greener solutions.”
Tata Motors showcased its future products at Auto Expo 2023 in New Delhi which include the all-new Sierra and the Curvv SUV. Also on display was the Harrier EV in close-to-production form.
Over the past three decades, the company has not only rolled out class-defining products, but has also significantly evolved in terms of manufacturing and technology. Tata Motors was the first Indian company to develop indigenous capabilities from the design, development, validation and manufacturing stages and also the first car manufacturer to install a crash test facility in India. It also has in-house design and simulation studios that execute rapid prototyping, digital product development, and a fully-equipped emission testing facilities to enhance its engineering capabilities.
Tata Motors has state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities at Chikhali, Pune, Sanand in Gujarat, and the FIAPL plant at Ranjangaon in Pune. More recently, it has acquired Ford India’s Sanand plant, which gives it additional manufacturing capacity of 300,000 units and scalable to 420,000 units per annum.
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