Homegrown auto major Tata Motors which is working on ways to revive the fortunes of the company, said the turnaround is a new normal for it and expressed hope that the capacity constraints are likely to be sorted out by the second quarter of FY19. Speaking to reporters after the launch of its Ultra range of intermediate and light commercial vehicles (ILCVs), which are priced between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, Tata Motors managing director and chief executive Guenter Butschek also said that the CV segment is likely to see an increased investment allocation.
Tata Motors saw its market share in the commercial vehicle (CV) segment in the domestic market inch closer to 44 percent in 2017-18 riding on its turnaround strategy, which aims at regaining lost ground to rivals. "Turnaround is our new normal, it is our new way," Butschek said. He said that across the product range, ILCV plays a crucial role in this range, adding that, "we will continue our journey in FY19; you can expect success create a hunger for further success. We will ramp up our capacity and will enhance our sales (in) all our segments. We are bound to gain market share."
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"One may not see big announcement... what we have been doing is debottlenecking at plant. It happens in new capacity, new machinery, new equipment; we will be doing it more this year. We have been creating capacity for new trucks," he said. "We are extremely positive, it (the range of ultra trucks) is going to become a huge successs, deliver on our aspiration, and to gain our market share, which was 44.2 percent last fiscal," he added.
Girish Wagh, president of commercial vehicle business unit, Tata Motors also said with an increase of 2.7 percent market share in the ILCV segment in FY18, the company is confident that its Ultra range will set new benchmarks. Butschek sounded confident that the company is going to further grow, build and strengthen its position and build on the confidence. Stating that the capacity has seen improvement after removimg some of the bottlenecks, he said, "By second quarter, we are going to (be) almost unconstrained (as far capacity is concerned).
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Tata Motors has been investing a total of Rs 1,500 crore in its CV business every year, Wagh said. With the BS VI (BS) coming in from 2020, he said, this investment will go up but did not share the additional funds that will be required. The ILCV segment in India crossed 1.05 lakh vehicles in the last fiscal and Tata Motors currently corners 44.2 percent market share.
"We were running at a rate of over 5,000 a month. We had identified specific customers and seeded about 3,000 vehicles, for almost 9-12 months. As we go ahead, within our volumes of ICV, the Ultra will help us grow the TIV," he said.
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The Ultra range is powered by indigenous 3L and 5L Turbotronn series engines, and comes with a standard warranty of 3 years/ 3 lakhs kms. The company claimed the range is capable of meeting the global trucking standards of emission, safety and features and has been tested in various geographies outside India like South Africa, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia.
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