NEW CUSTOMER FOCUS

Tata Motors has had a very good year in 2010-11, particularly in the commercial vehicle segment. In the domestic market, the company’s commercial vehicles sales increased by 22.7 per cent year-on-year to 458,828 units, with its market share in it of 61.8 per cent.

Overall the CV industry grew by 27 per cent in 2010-11 over the previous year. The growth was supported by sustained economic growth leading to significant revival in exim trade, infrastructure development, pick-up in mining & construction activities, favorable vehicle financing, healthy freight availability, etc

Growth in the MHCV segment has been accompanied by a structural alignment and shift in favor of higher tonnage trucks. Tata Motors has witnessed growth of 31 per cent in the M&HCV segment, of which the tractor trailer segment grew by 59 per cent, multi-axle segment by 35 per cent, tippers by 24 per cent and the 2-axle trucks by around 11 per cent.

Tata Motors commands a 61 per cent marketshare in the overall commercial vehicle segment, but it is going to become increasingly difficult for the company to preserve the marketshare because of competition. From just three CV manufacturers a decade ago, today there are nearly a dozen manufacturers in India, and more are waiting in their wings to enter the fray.

As a market leader, the company is fully aware of this fact and is gearing up in all possible manner to tackle competition. Mr. Vinod Sahay, Head of Sales and Marketing (M&HCV), Tata Motors, spoke in detail on the product and customer support initiatives of the company that help it remain on top.

Starting with the products, Mr. Sahay said: “Earlier we had just one or two products at every GVW, like the 16, 25 or 40 tonne segment. Today we already have minimum two and in many cases more than four products at every GVW, price and performance point across all segments – rigids, tippers and TT. Going forward, we will have a basic product, a mid-range product and at the top end we will have Prima. For instance, in the 40-tonne TT, we have two offerings, one is a mass market product and the other high-end Prima”.