Swaraj Baggonkar Moneycontrol News
Nexon, the much-awaited compact sports utility vehicle from Tata Motors will debut in the last week of September even as the company prepares to go full throttle on its marketing and production activities in the next 6-8 weeks.
“We want to meet the festive demand just in time so we will commercially launch the Nexon towards the end of September”, a senior Tata Motors official told Moneycontrol.
While official bookings have not been opened as yet by Tata Motors, some dealers are believed to have started accepting bookings on their own. “Display cars are in the process of getting dispatched and dealers will have them soon”, said the official.
Production of the urban SUV has already begun at the Ranjangaon facility near Pune which is co-owned by Fiat. “The company is working towards a faultless production run in the build up to the launch”, said another Tata Motors official.
Tata Motors is looking to garner a minimum of 30 percent of the compact sports utility vehicle market with the Nexon. Growing at a solid pace this segment is at 18,000-20,000 units a month. It commands a share of nearly 40 percent of the total SUV market which is at 5.6 lakh units a year.
“The compact SUV market started in 2014 and since then has seen tremendous growth. We would at least need a share of 30 percent in this segment as it has just one strong model at the moment”, said the official mentioned earlier.
Tata Motors market share target translates to volumes of around 5,500-6, 000 units a month. Market leader Maruti Suzuki is clocking monthly volumes of nearly 10,000 units with the Vitara Brezza followed by the Ford Ecosport with volumes of around 3,500 units a month.
Mahindra & Mahindra, the final company in this segment with the TUV 300 and KUV 100 having combined sales of 3,500 units a month.
Tata Motors plans to aggressively position the Nexon as a vehicle having a mix of a premium hatchback and a compact SUV. This way the company stands to target both set of customers.
The compact dimensions of a compact SUV notwithstanding buyers have lapped up mini SUVs which are favoured for their high seating, higher ground clearance, roomy interiors and a more commanding road presence.
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