Tata Motors’ former lead designer Pratap Bose joins Mahindra & Mahindra

At Tata Motors, Bose was credited for being engaged with designing 14 production models and eight concept models in a span of 14 years.

Altroz, Harrier, Safari, Nexon, Tigor, Tiago, Bolt and Zest are some of the production models that Bose was engaged in.

Pixel, Racemo, H2X, H5X, 45X and Sierra were some of the other concepts, which saw Bose’s involvement.

The H5X went on to become the Harrier while the 45X became the Altroz. The H2X will be launched by Tata Motors as the Hornbill in the next few months.

Tata Motors was occasionally accused of carrying dated designs on models like Indica, Indigo and Sumo at a time when rivals like Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki were adding new stylings. But in recent quarters the Mumbai-based company saw its most dramatic transformation ever.

New launches like Nexon, Harrier, Altroz and Tiago have helped the company go past Mahindra & Mahindra to reclaim the third spot in the passenger vehicle ranking in India.

The Mumbai-based company was the only auto company in the large volume category to record a growth in sales during FY21. Most of its models continue to be on the waiting list.

With the coming onboard of Bose, M&M will hope to arrest any further decline in its market share in the fiercely competitive SUV segment.

Hyundai is the market leader in the SUV category followed by Maruti Suzuki. M&M was once a leader of the SUV segment with models like Scorpio and XUV500.

From around 40 percent in 2016, M&M’s market share in the utility vehicle segment of which SUVs are a part, shrunk to 17 percent by the end of May 2021, as per data shared by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

All of M&M’s new-generation models except for XUV300 and Thar have struggled in the market.

Before joining Tata Motors, Bose, an alumnus of Royal College of Art, London and National Institute of Design, India, had worked with Piaggio, Italy and Daimler Chrysler, Japan.