Tata Motors, the largest auto company of South Asia, has lost its third position in the list of country's biggest passenger vehicle manufacturers to Mahindra & Mahindra, which is riding on the success of its latest Multi Utility Vehicle (MUV), the XUV500. The first position has been firmly retained by Maruti Suzuki, whereas Hyundai is the second largest passenger car maker.
Tata Motors had been, for a long period of time, in the second place before it was outpaced by the South Korean maker, Hyundai, a few years ago. Now, the disappointing performance of Tata’s vehicles has pushed it further to the fourth position in the industry. On the other hand, the company has claimed that their global sales have gone up by 6 per cent with sales of 94,055 units in June 2012 over corresponding period last year. However, the growth was mainly driven by a 39 per cent surge in the sales of its luxury brand, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
In the domestic market, Tata was hoping to regain its second position with the launch of Nano in 2008. However, the car was unable to perform as per the company’s expectations, resulting in lower sales. Following the league of company’s failure, brands like Indica and Indigo also failed to do good business. With less than 18,000 Indica’s sold in the first quarter of this fiscal, its sales remained unaffected, whereas deliveries of Indigo family witnessed a dip of 33 per cent and amounted to 9,724 units.
Managing Director of a consulting firm IHS Automotive, Deepesh Rathore says, “For a large percentage of car buyers, Tata Motors is no longer an option. The company is selling products that do not meet the expectations of buyers. A large chunk of sales for Tata Motors comes from taxis, which is limited in volumes and is cyclical in nature.”
M&M, on the contrary, has had a successful run with Xylo touching the 100,000 sales mark in June 2012. Apart from that, the success of the XUV500 and the favourable performance of Bolero increased the sales of the company by 23 per cent in the first quarter of 2012.
In the zeal to establish a special niche in the India auto sector, industry leading car makers like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor are making hard efforts for the same. The largest passenger car maker is rejoicing with its top spot in the passenger vehicle section, while Hyundai is also experiencing favourable times with the likes of its Eon, Santro, i10 and i20.
