Tata Motors, India’s largest automobile company by revenue, expects one in every two cars it sells to be electric by the end of the decade. The company, which is the market leader in the electric passenger vehicle segment in India, has already announced a portfolio of 10 products by 2026. This will help expand its EV portfolio with options available from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 40 lakh.
- Tata to experiment with dedicated EV dealerships
- Its EV sales are set to cross 50,000-unit mark
- Tata says EV business sees tremendous interest from customers, investors
Having set the base with the Tiago, Tigor and Nexon, Tata Motors is moving up the price ladder, range and premiumisation in line with the Indian market moving up.
Over the next couple of years, the company will offer electric alternatives from Rs 20 lakh to 40 lakh with EVs like the Harrier, Curvv, Sierra and Avinya. And the portfolio will be across Gen 1, Gen 2 and Gen 3 vehicle architectures.
Gen 1 is ICE-derived EVs, Gen 2 is ground-up multi-powertrain architecture and Gen 3 is the born-electric vehicle architecture.
Shailesh Chandra, managing director of Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, says: “The company plans to offer products across price points. Directionally, we are moving up and our average price points are moving up. We have created a decent customer base; we want to offer an upgrade alternative to the users of Nexon by creating alternatives like Sierra, Harrier and Avinya.”
Chandra says the company is on track to meet its volume plans. The company’s EV sales are set to cross the 50,000-unit mark in the current fiscal year and volumes are set to double to over 1,00,000 units in FY2024.
Dedicated EV retail outlets in the offing
As the price points expand, Tata Motors will also try to experiment with dedicated EV outlets. The company will start with a select few cities where there is a critical mass for a dealer to remain viable. As volumes grow, the company plans to gradually expand to more markets in the future.
The company says EVs can turn into an alternative for a diesel – in terms of performance – and the price of an EV may be similar to a diesel vehicle in the future. However, Chandra denied to comment on specific price points for Tata Motors' future model range.
The head of Tata Motors' EV business says there has been tremendous interest from customers and investors in the company. Experts say this has led to swelling of volumes as well as valuations. “If you focus on customers, create concepts based on their needs and create a larger mass of customers, investors will come. We are working on 10 products. When we launched the Nexon, we didn’t do the global benchmark... we did what a customer wanted and we hit the sweet spot. So as long as you offer products that customers want, volumes will follow and will attract investors,” concluded Chandra.
Hormazd Sorabjee
Anurag Chaturvedi
