Tata Motors to launch 7-8 new products on Ace platform

Nachiket Kelkar
moneycontrol.com

Tata Motors, India's largest commercial vehicle maker, plans to launch 7-8 new products/variants on its highly successful Ace mini truck platform, Ravi Pisharody, ED - commercial vehicles, said on Thursday. Tata Motors was the first mover in the sub-one tonne four wheel CV category, when it launched the 0.75 tonne Ace in 2005. The company announced that it has now sold 1 million units of the Ace mini truck and the Magic, which is a commercial passenger vehicle variant of the Ace. It hopes the next one million units will be sold even more quickly, with the new products being launched. Over the past seven years, the company has launched several variants on the Ace platform, which includes the even smaller Ace Zip and Magic Iris and the one tonne pickup Super Ace. The 6-8 new products planned,will include one with a common-rail-direct-injection (CRDI) diesel engine or Dicor as the Tatas call it and compressed natural gas (CNG) variants of the Ace Zip and Magic Iris. The new launches are a part of the company's plans to launch 25 new CVs in the second half. Apart from the Ace, Tata Motors will launch new products in the Prima medium and heavy truck range and the yet to be launched LCVs on the ultra platform, Pisharody said. The ultra range of LCVs will be launched in the fourth quarter of this financial year, he added. Overall 8,92,349 CVs were sold in India in 2011-12, and Ace and Magic accounted for 2,14,483 units. Tata Motors has a 80 percent market share in the Ace segment, despite competition from companies like Mahindra & Mahindra and Piaggio. Apart from India, the company says Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are among the big markets for Ace. The mini-truck is also being exported to markets like Africa, Middle East and the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Countries) region, and the company will look at expanding the base in these markets. "Out of the one million, we have exported 60,000 units. But we believe we have much more opportunity. So far we had a capacity constraint till March-April. We got the expansion going. Earlier, we were always having to trade-off, how much for export and how much we can give for India. So now we will be looking to expand in other markets, basically emerging markets, including slightly more developed ones like Thailand and South Africa," Pisharody said. Tata Motors is currently manufacturing the Ace at its Pantnagar plant in Uttarakhand, where it has a production capacity of 5 lakh units a year. The Ace Zip is made at Dharwad. Meanwhile, Pisharody said, Tata Motors is selling 15-20 units per month of its inter-city luxury bus Divo, made with its Spanish subsidiary Hispano Carrocera and launched in March. 50-60 luxury inter-city buses are sold in India each month and Volvo is a dominant player in the segment selling around half of the total buses. The stock closed up 5.4 percent on NSE on Thursday at Rs 283.95. The company had reported lower-than-expected consolidated results for the second quarter due to a slowdown in the domestic business. However, the street cheered strong growth in its British luxury Jaguar Land Rover unit, which accounts for majority of its earnings and JLR is expected to drive growth with new launches like the Range Rover and Jaguar XF. nachiket.kelkar@network18online.com