Leveraging the Company's capabilities: The Company believe that the foundation of its growth over the last five decades has been a deep understanding of economic conditions and customer needs, and the ability to translate this understanding into desirable products though research and development. In India, Company's Engineering Research Centre, or ERC, established in 1966, has enabled it to successfully design, develop and produce its own range of vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover's research and development operations are built around state-of-the-art engineering facilities, extensive test tracks, testing centers, design hubs and a virtual innovation center. The Engineering Research Centre, or ERC, in India and Jaguar Land Rover engineering and development operations in the United Kingdom have identified areas to leverage the facilities and resources to enhance the product development process and achieve economies of scale. Furthermore, the Company have a wholly-owned subsidiary, Tata Motors European Technical Centre PLC, or TMETC, in the United Kingdom, which is engaged in automobile research and engineering.
The Company believes that its in-house research and development capabilities, including those of its subsidiaries Jaguar Land Rover, TDCV and Trilix in Italy, TMETC in the United Kingdom and Company's joint ventures with Marcopolo S.A. of Brazil in India, with Thonburi in Thailand and Tata Africa Holdings (SA) (Proprietary) Ltd. in South Africa, will enable it to expand it's product range and extend the Company's geographical reach. The Company continually strive to achieve synergy wherever possible with its subsidiaries and joint ventures.
The Company has continued modernizing its facilities to meet demand for its vehicles. The Company's Jamshedpur plant, which manufactures Company's entire range of M&HCVs, including the Prima, both for civilian and defense uses, was Company's first plant, set up in 1945 to manufacture steam locomotives. It led Company's entry into commercial vehicles in 1954.
The Company's product portfolio of Tata-brand vehicles includes the Nano, Indica, Tiago, Indigo, Sumo, Sumo Grande, Safari, Safari Storme, Aria, Zest, Bolt, Tigor, Hexa and Venture, which enable it to compete in various passenger vehicle market categories. The Company also offer alternative fuel vehicles under the Nano and Indigo brands. The Company also intend to expand its sales reach and volumes in rural areas, where an increase in wealth has resulted in a declining difference between urban and rural automobile purchase volumes.
Jaguar Land Rover invests substantially in the development of new products in new and existing segments by introducing new powertrains and technologies, including CO2 reduction and electrification that satisfy both customer preferences and regulatory requirements. Jaguar Land Rover also invest in expanding manufacturing capacity in the United Kingdom and internationally to meet customer demand. Jaguar Land Rover expects investment spending to be over GB£ 4 billion (approximately Rs. 324 billion) in Fiscal 2018 reflecting its growth plans. Of the GB£ 4 billion around half is expected to be spent on research & development with the other half expected to be spent on tangible fixed assets such as facilities, tools and equipment as well as other investments.
In October 2014, Jaguar Land Rover opened its Engine Manufacturing Centre at Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands. The plant currently manufactures Jaguar Land Rover's own in-house 2.0-litre diesel and petrol engines, which are now available across the majority of company's models. Jaguar Land Rover's in-house engines have been engineered to ensure maximum manufacturing efficiency, flexibility to increase the number of engine variants and consistently high quality. In December 2015, Jaguar Land Rover announced initial investment of GB£1.0 billion to build a manufacturing facility in Slovakia (Europe) with annual capacity of 150,000 units and production scheduled to commence from FY 2018. Jaguar Land Rover have the option to investment a further GB£ 500 million to expand capacity to 300,000 units per annum subject to further feasibility studies. In June 2016, Jaguar Land Rover opened it's first wholly owned international manufacturing plant in Brazil, which manufactures the Evoque and Discovery Sport for the local market.
Continuing focus on high quality and enhancing customer satisfaction: One of Company's principal goals is to achieve international quality standards for its products and services. The Company has established a comprehensive purchasing and quality control system that is designed to consistently deliver quality products and superior service. The Company also have a program for assisting vendors from whom the Company purchases raw materials or components to maintain quality. Each vendor is reviewed on a quarterly basis on parameters of quality, cost and delivery and preference is given to vendors with TS 16949 certification.
Through close coordination supported by company's IT systems, the Company monitors quality performance in the field and implement corrections on an ongoing basis to improve the performance of company's products, thereby improving customer satisfaction. The Company believes its extensive sales and service network has also enabled it to provide quality and timely customer service. The Company is encouraging focused initiatives at both sales and service touch points to enhance customer experience and strive to be best in class, and The Company believes that the reach of its sales, service and maintenance network provides it with a significant advantage over its competitors. In India, the Company improved its J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2016 India Customer Service Index (CSI) Study score and the Company moved up from the third ranking last year to the second ranking in that survey.
The Company is committed to satisfying its customers with high quality products and services. As recognition of Company's efforts towards this it won several awards at the Apollo CV awards in February 2017, with the Tata Armoured Personal Carrier winning special CV Application of the Year; Prima 2528.K winning MCV Tipper of the Year; Signa 4923.S tractor winning HCV Tractor Cargo Carrier of the Year and the Tata Double Deck tractor trailer winning CV application builder of the Year. One of Company's dealerships, Cargo Motors, won the Dealership of the Year award.
In passenger vehicles segment, the Tiago received a strong responses and accolades with 18 awards during the year. As a key stakeholder in the Indian trucking industry, the Company launched the "Use Dipper at Night" campaign winning numerous global and regional awards.
Jaguar F-Pace won both the World Car of the Year and World Car design of the year award. Jaguar XF won the Golden Steering Wheel Award in Germany. Jaguar and Land Rover in total received 213 awards from leading international motoring writers, magazines and opinion leaders in Fiscal 2017 as well as numerous other awards, accolades and recognition reflecting the strength of company's model line-up and its design and engineering capabilities.
Environmental performance: Jaguar Land Rover's strategy is to invest in products and technologies that position their products ahead of expected stricter environmental regulations and ensure that they benefit from a shift in consumer awareness of the environmental impact of the vehicles driven by customers. The Company also believe that Jaguar Land Rover are leaders in automotive green technology in the United Kingdom. Jaguar Land Rover's environmental vehicle strategy focuses on new propulsion technology, weight reduction and reducing parasitic losses through the driveline. They have developed diesel hybrid versions of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, without compromising the vehicles' off road capability or load space.
Jaguar Land Rover are a global leader in the use of aluminium and other lightweight materials to reduce vehicle weight and improve fuel and CO2 efficiency, and Jaguar Land Rover believe that it is ahead of many of its competitors in the implementation of aluminium construction. For example, the Jaguar XE is the only vehicle in its class to use an aluminium intensive monocoque. Jaguar Land Rover plan to continue to build on this expertise and extend the application of aluminium construction as they develop a range of new products. The aluminium body architecture introduced on the Jaguar XE is also used in the new lightweight Jaguar XF and the new Jaguar F PACE and the all new Land Rover Discovery uses the same lightweight architecture as the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.
Jaguar Land Rover are also developing more efficient powertrains and other technologies. This includes smaller and more efficient 2.0 litre diesel and petrol engines (now available across the majority of Company's model range), stop start, mild and plug-in hybrids as well as battery electric propulsion technologies. Jaguar Land Rover's smaller and more efficient family of Ingenium diesel and petrol engines as well the lightweight Range Rover and Range Rover Sport Diesel Hybrids, powered by downsized and more efficient engines and alternative powertrains have all contributed to the improvement of their carbon footprint.
Jaguar Land Rover's current product line up is the most efficient it has ever been and the environmental performance of their vehicles has been further improved through the launch of new models. The new Land Rover Discovery uses lightweight aluminium construction, which saves 480 kg compared to the old model, delivering enhanced efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions. The aluminium intensive Jaguar XE is the most fuel efficient Jaguar and the first Jaguar Land Rover vehicle to receive a UK VED Band A rating resulting in a £0/annum tax rate and the aluminium intensive XF delivers improved fuel consumption and CO2 emission performance. The 2.0-litre Ingenium diesel and petrol engines, now used extensively in the product line-up provide significant CO2 reductions versus the outgoing powertrains.
Jaguar Land Rover has pledged that by 2020 half of its model will have the option of electrification, a move spearheaded by its first full electric car, the Jaguar I-Pace. On sale in 2018, the I-Pace is a preview of the Jaguar Land Rover's first production battery power car, and demonstrates its ongoing commitment to create exciting and desirable electric vehicles.
Recognizing the need to use resources responsibly, produce less waste and reduce Jaguar Land Rover's carbon footprint, they are also taking measures to reduce emissions, waste and the use of natural resources in all of their operations.
Mitigating cyclicality: The automobile industry is impacted by cyclicality. To mitigate the impact of cyclicality, the Company plans to continually strengthen its operations through gaining market share across different segments, and offering a wide range of products in diverse geographies and segments, such as defence. The Company also plans to continue to strengthen its business operations other than vehicle sales, such as financing of its vehicles, spare part sales, service and maintenance contracts, sales of aggregates for non-vehicle businesses, reconditioning of aggregates and sale of castings, production aids and tooling/fixtures in order to reduce the impact of cyclicality of the automotive industry.
Expanding the Company international business: The Company's international expansion strategy involves entering new markets where it has an opportunity to grow and introducing new products to existing markets in order to grow its presence in such markets. The Company's international business strategy has already resulted in the growth of its international operations in select markets and chosen segments over the last five years. Based on the Company's internal assessments, in recent years, it has grown its market share across various African and Middle East markets such as Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar in addition to maintaining its dominant market position in the South Asian markets of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka based on data compiled by Company's country managers. In keeping with the Company's strategy to enter and grow in new regions, it has focused on business in the ASEAN countries, where in the recent years the Company entered Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Tunisia has been an example of a success story in a new market where over the last two years, the Company has entered and rapidly ramped up retails and is now a major player in the pickup segment.
The Company has also expanded its range through acquisitions and joint ventures. The Company now offer products in the premium performance car and premium all-terrain vehicle categories with globally recognized brands through Jaguar Land Rover and has diversified its business across markets and product categories. The production of the Range Rover Evoque commenced at the China Joint Venture in October 2014 and went on general retail sale in China in February 2015. Production of the Discovery Sport was also added as the second vehicle to be manufactured at the China joint venture in Fiscal 2016, which went on general retail sale in November 2015, and in September 2016, sales of the long wheelbase Jaguar XFL from Company's China joint venture began. The Company will aim to continue to build upon the internationally recognized brands of Jaguar Land Rover.
The Company's subsidiary, Tata Motors (Thailand) Limited, is also focusing on increasing its geographical reach by introducing Thailand-manufactured pickup trucks in other Asian markets. Thailand-produced pickup trucks were introduced in Malaysia in the beginning of Fiscal 2015. During Fiscal 2017, TMTL exported 317 vehicles to Malaysia.
During Fiscal 2008, the Company established a joint venture Company to undertake manufacture and assembly operations in South Africa, which has been one of its largest export markets from India in terms of unit volume. The joint venture Company, Tata Motors (SA) (Proprietary) Limited, commenced operations in July 2011. Currently, Tata Motors (SA) (Proprietary) Limited caters to the domestic South African market and Mozambique market and, in Fiscal 2017, sold 703 chassis.
Jaguar Land Rover also has ambitious plans to continue to develop the product range, for example the new Range Rover Velar, which goes on sale in the summer of 2017. Jaguar Land Rover intends to expand its global footprint by increasing marketing and its global dealer network as well as expanding its manufacturing base in the United Kingdom and internationally, including the new manufacturing facility in Brazil, which opened in June 2016, and at the new manufacturing plant in Slovakia where production of the Land Rover Discovery is scheduled to commence in Fiscal 2018.