Tata Motors completes 11 years as a passenger vehicles maker this month. Though this is much less than the years it has spent as a commercial vehicles maker, the decade has seen the company expand its reach and products, says Rajiv Dube, president ?passenger cars. In a candid conversation with Shweta Bhanot, Dube walks through the journey of the company in its evolution as a global automaker. Excerpts:
What were the key products in the passenger vehicles segment during the last 11 years and what lies ahead?
I think it has been a tremendous journey. If you look at the history of any automaker around the world, I think none have had a first decade so exciting like Tata Motors. From nowhere, we have today created a car business that is Rs 10,000 crore or more. Indica gave us the start and despite some glitches, it has been a success for us. Indica gave us the courage to make Nano. In these years, the company has taken some significant steps. We joined hands with Italian carmaker Fiat and acquired the British brands Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR).
Can you throw some light on new platforms under development and the launches you have lined up this year?
In the last 24-25 months, we have launched 13 models from the Fiat and Tata stables. And seven models of JLR. We have been launching a model virtually every two months. By the middle of this year, we will be launching Aria, an eight-seater vehicle and start booking of Jaguar XJ. In terms of new platforms, we have launched Indica Vista and Indigo Manza; Nano from another. The to-be-launched Aria is from a completely new platform. We also launched one new platform from Fiat. Other than these, we have new platforms under various stages of development.
Do you see any impact on sales due to the increase in prices owing to excise duty roll-back? Are you in a position to absorb the cost?
The industry is not in a position to absorb the cost. We are looking at higher incidence of raw material costs and we have already passed it on. There will be some impact on sales in March due to the price increase, but until liquidity remains in the system, there is not much of worry. There is no trade secret that there will be price hikes in April once the new emission norms set in as increasing raw material prices remains a concern.
When do we see Pr1ma, the concept sedan, commercially available in the market?
The company has not taken a decision on it. It is a concept and currently we are gauging customer reaction to it, which is promising.
Is the Sanand plant ready for commercial production and how many Nanos are being produced at Pantnagar currently?
It will be commencing operations soon. There are 25,000 Nanos running on the road today. Pantnagar from July last year of 2,000-2,500 Nanos has reached 4,000 units last month.