Highlights

All eyes on the Tiago

One of the highlights of the year was the launch of Tata Motors' cool new hatchback, the TIAGO. With design inputs from Pune, UK and Italy, the globally benchmarked Tiago sets a new and high standard for the Indian hatchback segment. The Tiago is the first car to be launched under our Made Of Great campaign and the first to embody our new Impact Design language.

#madeofgreat

One of the year's standout events was the signing up of football legend Lionel Messi, voted Best Player of the World four times in a row. Messi is the brand ambassador for Tata Motors passenger vehicles globally. The association campaign, appropriately named #madeofgreat, emphasises the strong consumer motivation of 'seeking excellence' and 'self belief'. The core idea of this campaign is the inspiring thought – 'What drives us from within is what makes us great' – the essence of Tata Motors.

A new design language

The Passenger Vehicle Business's new Impact Design language was developed keeping the media-saturated customer in mind. It stands for 'Immediate impact at first sight, lasting impact over time'. Impact design will be achieved through key design elements on the exterior and interior of vehicles. Exterior design will be defined through 'EXciting', 'EXpressive' and 'EXtraordinary' features such as exciting architecture and pleasing proportions, expressive surfaces and graphics, and details inspired by Indian architecture. 'INviting', 'INtelligent' and 'INtouch' features such as intelligent cabin and driver-focused layout and layered cockpit design will define the interior of the vehicles.

GenX Nano is here

The ground-breaking Nano continues to innovate and evolve in line with the needs of our customers. Tata Motors launched the all new GENX NANO range, which comes with advanced technological features such as automated manual transmission, power steering, bluetooth connectivity and much more, making the GenX Nano the perfect city car.

Signa signals the future

Tata Motors launched the new and future ready SIGNA range of world class medium and heavy commercial vehicles, designed for applications in haulage and construction. With smartly designed cabin space, improved ergonomics and NVH levels, best-in-class fuel efficiency and the Tata Fleetman telematics system, the Signa offers drivers and owners a superior driving experience unlike any other.

The ultimate Ultra

After the world-class range of Prima trucks, the ULTRA represents the global standard in intermediate and light commercial vehicles. Stylish and futuristic, with smart utility features, the Tata Ultra has been engineered to meet changing customer needs. The new Tata Ultra 1518 launched recently is a fabulous combination of world class performance parameters, with enhanced levels of durability, reliability, driver comfort, high load carrying capacity and safety, along with best life-cycle cost.

Mega superior

The launch of the Tata ACE MEGA with its best-in-class combination of power, speed and fuel efficiency stands to redefine the benchmarks of the small commercial vehicle segment. The Ace Mega comes preloaded with enhanced looks, a strong cabin, rated payload of one tonne, and lowest cost of ownership, which makes it a valuable and an innovative cargo transport solution for both intra and intercity transportation.

T1 racing roars again

Season 3 of the Tata Motors T1 Racing Championship opened in Delhi with an added innovative element. This time around there were two separate categories of races, the Pro class with internationally experienced racing truck drivers, and the Super class featuring Indian talent. This year Tata Motors introduced the T1 Racer Program, which attracted over 550 driver nominations from our customers' businesses. A dozen drivers, shortlisted based on their driving experience, participated. A crowd of over 50,000 cheered the powerful racing trucks at the Buddh International Circuit in Delhi.

Land Rover goes convertible

Launched in 1948, the Land Rover line is now 68 years old. The landmark six-millionth Land Rover was a Range Rover Vogue SE, which rolled off Jaguar Land Rover's Solihull production line in April. Range Rover took a new step by launching the new Range Rover Evoque Convertible in London, heralding the dawn of a new era in all-season convertible driving. Lowering its roof for the first time, the vehicle opened up the world of roof-down motoring all year round for drivers all around the globe.

This was also an iconic year for the Land Rover Discovery Sport with the 100,000th sold, and launched in China and India. Winning a host of awards, particularly in the prestigious safety category, has confirmed the excellence of the vehicle's design, versatility and capability. With a Discovery Sport rolling off the production line every three minutes, strong demand continues to fill the order books.

Combat vehicles

Tata Motors Defence Solutions is participating in a programme to make Future Infantry Combat Vehicles (FICV) for the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD). For this Tata Motors has signed a strategic agreement with India's Bharat Forge Limited and US based General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS). Tata Motors will lead the consortium, with Bharat Forge Limited as a partner, while General Dynamics Land Systems will bring in its much proven expertise in combat vehicle platforms.

The FICV is a high mobility armoured battle vehicle. It needs to be compact, tracked and amphibious, no heavier than 18-20 tonnes, so that it can be air-portable and transportable by other means, onto combat zones. The vehicle must fire anti-tank guided missiles to ranges beyond four kilometers, with a capability to carry a crew of three and eight combat-kitted infantrymen. The FICV will replace the Indian Army's fleet of 2610 Russian-designed BMP (Sarath BMP II) series armed vehicles, that are in operation since 1980.

Upping the ante on service

Tata Motors has consistently tried to offer its customers an enhanced service experience and its efforts have catapulted it to the 3rd spot in the JD Power India Customer Service Index Study 2015. One of the new, industry-leading service initiatives undertaken last year was a series of mega service camps which were organised at all Tata Motors dealerships and authorised service centres across 287 cities. The third phase of the free comprehensive vehicle health check-up camp was conducted at over 1,000 locations. Customers availed of discounts, special offers and attractive exchange offers.

Superior service experiences

Continuing its endeavour to get closer to its customers, Tata Motors is expanding its network, both for passenger and commercial vehicles. As a part of its commitment to increase its network by three-fold in the next 5 years across the country, Tata Motors has set up state-of-the-art dealerships in strategic locations such as Jogeshwari in Mumbai, Salem in Tamil Nadu and Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh. These strategically located dealerships provide customers with a complete '3S' experience of sales, service and spare parts,fulfilling their requirements and enabling an enhanced purchase experience and quality after-sales support under one roof.

Investment in innovation

Tata Motors is continuing to invest in auto technologies for the future. The new £150 million National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC) coming up on the campus of the University of Warwick in UK will be the largest automotive research centre of its kind in Europe. It is funded by Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors, the University of Warwick and the UK Government.

NAIC's 33,000 sq m complex, which seats 1,000 engineers and designers, will help deliver breakthrough technologies in areas such as carbon reduction, smart and connected vehicles, and advanced propulsion systems including internal combustion engines, hybrid and electric systems. The high tech research facilities will include a design and simulation space creating innovative automotive solutions, an Advanced Propulsion Research Laboratory, and the world's most adaptable and advanced fully immersive drive-in car simulator.

A year of milestones

Tata Motors celebrated the 10th anniversary of Tata Ace, India's number one mini truck. When it was launched in 2005, Tata Ace pioneered the small commercial vehicle (SCV) category. In just a decade, the Ace family has crossed the 1.5 million sales mark and captured 85% market share. It is also the most successful SCV brand -- one in every five commercial vehicles sold in India is from the Ace family.

Tata Motors achieved yet another feat in its last mile public transport portfolio. Its popular public transport vehicle, Tata Magic, crossed the 3 lakh sales mark. What makes this achievement significant is that with Tata Magic, Tata Motors has been able to capture the market despite the stringent regulations that have to be met.

News from around the world

• Tata Ace crosses 100,000 in sales in international markets across South Asia, Africa, and the ASEAN regions and is currently available in over 20 countries
• Sri Lanka is introduced to the GenX Nano
• Tata Bolt is launched in South Africa
• Zest and Bolt are launched in the Sri Lanka and Nepal markets
• Dubai gets the Tata Elanza bus
• Bangladesh sees entry of Ultra range of trucks
• Tata Xenon and the Prima Prime Mover launched in Malaysia
• Tata Motors to assemble CVs in Tunisia