An aggressive pricing strategy has seen the Tata Tiago EV receive a lot of customer interest, with over 20,000 bookings already spoken for. However, beyond the volume, data on the type and distribution of bookings also threw up some interesting facts.
- Medium range Tiago EV demand more in states with early EV policies
- 25 percent of bookings from first time buyers
Speaking to Autocar India at the media drive of the Tiago EV, Shailesh Chandra, managing director of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passengers Electric Mobility, said, “the pattern we are seeing with the Tiago EV is different from other EVs, in that we are seeing greater interest in some new states like Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Madya Pradesh, which weren’t early adopter regions like Maharashtra and Delhi, which, very early on, announced EV policies.”
The other interesting fact is that, in states which are the latest to adopt EV policies, the demand is more for the long-range Tiago (24kWh battery), whereas the more affordable medium-range version (19.2kWh battery) has good demand in states that adopted EV policies early on.
Chandra says this could be due to the fact that in states which adopted EV policies earlier, like Maharashtra, Delhi and Kerala, “the better developed charging infrastructure allows customers to opt for the medium range version”. He adds that in these states the car is also used as a city car, so distance isn’t that much of a worry.
The other interesting fact that Tata Motors witnessed with the Tiago EV booking was that over 50 percent of customers were less than 40 years of age and about 25 percent were first-time car buyers. Chandra says this is more than in the case of the Nexon and Tigor EV, and while being a hatchback is undoubtedly a factor, he’s “happy that an electric car is being increasingly considered as a primary vehicle”. Now that it has an electric hatchback, sedan and SUV, what’s next for the brand? While Tata has yet to announce a particular model, it will likely be an SUV.
Dipan Sur
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Glenn Noronha
Dhruv Dhaka
