Tata Motors suffers 68 percent drop in passenger vehicle sales in March 2020

Passenger vehicle sales figures for the month of March 2020 are out, and they don’t make for pretty reading. And that’s the case across the board – right from Maruti Suzuki to Hyundai and Mahindra, carmakers have suffered a big hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant 21-day nationwide lockdown. Now, Tata Motors has reported that its passenger vehicle sales fell by a massive 68 percent in March, with the company having sold just 5,676 units compared to 17,810 units sold in March 2019.

Tata Motors’ March sales figure is also less than half of what it was in February. 5,676 units is a drop of 54.33 percent compared to the 12,430 units Tata sold in February 2020. This substantial drop in sales has also had a telling impact on the company’s final sales figure for FY2020, which stands at 1,31,197 units, a drop of 38 percent compared to the 2,10,143 units Tata Motors sold in FY2019.

Commenting on the company’s sales in March, Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors Ltd. said, “Vehicle sales were affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent nationwide lockdown. However, the customer response to our newly launched models – the Altroz – and the refreshed BS6 range is encouraging. Our BS4 vehicle stock is near zero in the entire network.”

Tata Motors will also only share wholesale and retail figures on a quarterly basis henceforth, unlike the monthly updates it currently provides, in a bid to help “investors to focus on the long-term drivers of the business and avoid needless short-term volatility.”

Tata Motors started off 2020 in a big way, launching its BS6-compliant range alongside the Altroz hatchback at a big-ticket event in Mumbai, The brand also garnered plenty of attention at Auto Expo 2020 with the HBX concept, Sierra EV concept, the 7-seat Gravitas SUV and the updated 2020 Harrier. The company is all set to launch the production-spec HBX mini-SUV later this year, along with the Gravitas and the BS6-compliant Hexa Safari Edition. 

Under its 'New Forever' philosophy, Tata Motors plans to introduce model updates and refreshes every couple of months, and the carmaker will be banking heavily on that to bounce back from a setback as big as this one.