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MOTORINDIA
l
August 2012
Tata Motors
developing new
CV models to
tackle competition
– Ratan Tata
In Asia, the main drivers of growth
have been China and India, which
have collectively registered growth,
albeit at lower levels than the previ-
ous year.
Addressing the annual general
meeting of Tata Motors Ltd. in
Mumbai, its Chairman, Mr. Ra-
tan N. Tata, observed that, by con-
trast, Asia has continued to register
growth, mainly from domestic and
overseas sales growth in China and
India. China has emerged as the
largest car market and car producing
center of the world. Chinese brands
have started to appear in world mar-
kets, and in all probability these will
grow into international brands in the
next few years.
The year also witnessed increased
sales of passenger cars and commer-
cial vehicles in India as compared to
the previous year, the main growth
being at the low end, with an empha-
sis on new, fuel-efficient cars and a
shift of preference to diesel. The do-
mestic consumer showed consider-
able interest in small SUVs and in
all luxury brands.
According to the Chairman, the
year was mixed bag for Tata Mo-
tors. The company retained its
market leadership in commercial
vehicles and gained further market
strength through the highly success-
ful Ace and Magic, its new line of
light pick-up trucks. On the other
hand, passenger car sales were be-
low expectations, even though sales
of the Nano increased over the pre-
vious year.
He said that in the coming years,
Tata Motors’ predominance in com-
mercial vehicles would be chal-
lenged by international brands like
vehicle zone (cover story)
Global sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles grew by 3.6 per
cent and 5.8 per cent respectively during 2011-12. In the US, where there
are clear signs of growth, sales increased by 9.8 per cent for cars and 14
per cent for commercial vehicles, whereas in Western Europe and the UK,
where there has been only marginal growth, sales declined for cars but
increased for commercial vehicles.