Tata Motors plans to launch a hatchback electric vehicle soon with a price tag below Rs 12.50 lakh, Shailesh Chandra, MD of Tata Motors PV Business Unit, told CNBC-TV18 on September 9.
“Tata Motors will very shortly launch a more affordable electric car – in a segment lower than Tigor EV. The starting price of Tigor EV is Rs 12.5 lakh. The next car, which could be a hatchback, will be priced very competitively,” Chandra said in an exclusive interaction with the channel.
He added that the company is targeting sales of 50,000 EVs in current fiscal (FY23).
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Speaking on the industry growth as a whole, Chandra noted that the EV sector was at 2,000 units in FY19 and has since seen 10 times growth over the last three years. “The industry has already seen sale of 20,000 EVs in FY23, which is almost the same number as FY22. The auto industry will cross 50,000 units in EV sales this FY,” he said.
Chandra said they have sold 17,000 EV units so far and will target sale of 50,000 vehicles in FY23. “Tata Motors is working out a plan for utilisation of Ford's Sanand plant, re-tooling will have to be done and we are accelerating efforts to get additional capacity of 3 lakh units from the plant,” he said.
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Further addressing the incident of fire in a Nexon EV in Mumbai, Chandra called it “an isolated incident”.
“Tata Motors has already sold 40,000 EVs which are very safe and the government has already done its probe and inspection of the fire incident,” he said.
World EV Day
Later in the day, on the occasion of World EV Day, Tata Motors officially announced expansion of its portfolio to make EVs more accessible in India. In a statement by Chandra, the company said it “remains committed towards realizing the vision of making India the EV hub of the world”.
Find all you need to know about EVs here
He added that the company unveiled its 3-phase approach to build a comprehensive EV portfolio and is committed to launch 10 EVs in different product segments, body styles and affordability levels.
“Today we announce the expansion of our EV portfolio with a new mainstream intervention from the stable of Tata Motors, the Tiago EV. As a leader, we are now pioneering the next phase of the EV market expansion, which will bring all the EV benefits of an exciting yet easy drive, silent cabin, low cost of ownership to a more accessible level,” he added.
Tata Passenger Electric Mobility (TPEM) aims to ride the green wave and support the government’s vision to have 30 percent EV penetration by 2030, the statement added. It further said that as early entrants, Tata Motors holds 88 percent share in India’s EV market and has over 40,000 Tata EVs plying on road.
“World EV Day is indeed a special day for us … We are proud to lead the EV market in India … and are grateful to the early adopters who have shown faith in the brand. Leveraging group synergies, we have also established Tata UniEVerse, a one of its kind EV ecosystem, which is further propelling the EV adoption,” Chandra added.
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