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Commercial Vehicles

The CV market after a turbulent start in the year 2017, as a result of announcement of BS-III to BS-IV changeover and concerns over Goods and Services Tax (GST), recovered strongly representing a growth of 21.7% in Fiscal 2018. The Company sold 399,821 vehicles within the domestic market, representing a growth of 23.3% over Fiscal 2017. The market share of CVBU for Fiscal 2018 was 45.1%. Allsegments with the exception of buses showed strong growth in Fiscal 2018.

Some of the highlights for the year were:

  • M&HCV volumes grew by 15.5% in Fiscal 2018. Several new products were launched across the SIGNA, PRIMA and conventional platforms – SIGNA 4923.S with Bell Crank suspension, SIGNA 3718, SIGNA 3718.TK, Prima 2530.K Scoop, Prima Lx 3125.K 23cm, LPK 2523 ULTIMAAX, LPK 2518 7 Cum RMC Bogie.
  • ILCV volumes registered a strong 35.6% growth in Fiscal 2018. The introduction of the ULTRA 1518 marked the Company’s entry in the 15T segment previously dominated by competition. New products such as LPT 407/38, ILCV Tippers and ILCV CNG products have helped grow volumes significantly.
  • SCV Volumes grew by 37.3%. The XL series of SCVs, consisting of the Zip XL, Mega XL and Ace XL models, was launched with a 15% longer load body delivering improved Total Cost of Ownership (‘TCO’) to our customers.
  • Volumes in the CV passenger segment marginally increased by 0.2% from Fiscal 2017. The Magic Express passenger SCV was launched in second quarter of Fiscal 2018 and was well received, helping this segment gain 9% market share in the year. The Net Promoter Score (‘NPS’) stood at positive (+57) for Fiscal 2018.
  • Reiterating its commitment to greener fuel options, the Company won orders for electric buses in 6 out of the 9 cities for which tenders were released across the Country, garnering around 60% share. The Company also supplied the country’s first diesel hybrid buses for the city of Mumbai with 25 units being flagged off by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in March 2018.
  • The Company became the first Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in India to deploy Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) systems in its PRIMA and SIGNA range. This package included Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Automatic Traction Control (ATC), Hill Start Aid (HSA), a Collision Mitigation System (CMS) and a Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS).
  • The Company significantly improved the ability to provide customers with end to end support and comfort through enhancing the value added services under a common brand of “Sampoorna Seva”. The key elements include 6 Year 6 lakh km warranty on the entire range of M&HCVs, Tata Alert breakdown assistance service available across 3 million kilometers of Indian roads and Tata Delight Loyalty Program.
  • Tie up with Indian Oil to launch Tata Motors Genuine Oil (TMGO), a single brand of affordable lubricating oils that is guaranteed by the Company for use across the range of CVs.
  • Sales Kraft – Value Selling and Negotiation training module was developed along with Mercuri Goldman to improve the negotiation skills of the frontline sales team, aimed to improve net sales realization. Over the course of 3 phases, the entire M&HCV sales team has been trained. In the next phase of the program, this module is being extended to the dealer sales teams.
  • The Company participated in the SIAM Auto Expo 2018 where 15 vehicles and 1 new engine from the CV portfolio were showcased. Some of the key products displayed were:
    • The SIGNA 4323 – India’s first 6-axle rigid truck with a 30- ton payload, the highest in the market and 4.5 tons higher than the nearest competitor.
    • The special PRIMA 4930.S technology demonstrator which displayed some of our latest advanced safety features like LDWS, Advanced Emergency Braking System (AEBS), HSA and rear view cameras
    • The ULTRA T.7, an elegant 4.2 ton payload LCV with a 1.9-meter wide cabin for easier maneuverability on the narrow roads of urban and rural India.
    • The Tata INTRA compact truck which is set to re-define the SCV segment in the country
    • The MAGNA Bus – the first bus body code compliant twoaxle OEM coach with world-class design and engineering inputs from our partner Marcopolo, Brazil.
    • The Turbotronn Engine Family - a brand new next generation state-of-the-art diesel engine family that offers best in class fuel economy, excellent performance, better reliability, and durability as well as lower TCO to our customers
    • A range of Electric commercial vehicles including the Starbus Electric, Magic EV and Iris EV.
  • CV won numerous awards for its various innovative productsand initiatives, some of which are mentioned below:
    • At the prestigious Apollo CV Awards, CVBU won:
      • Small People Mover of the Year for the Tata Magic Express
      • M&HCV People Mover of the Year for the Tata Magna Bus
      • HCV Tractor Cargo Carrier of the Year for the Tata SIGNA 4923.S
      • Special Recognition award for the Tata Starbus Hybrid
    • Brand Equity YouTube Leader board – No 1. In Top 10 ads on YouTube in India that resonate most with the audience - February 2018.
    • World Digital Marketing Congress (WDMC) - Best Digital Integrated marketing campaign for Tata Ace - Keep Loading campaign. Global Digital marketing awards. This is one of the first industry awards in the year.
    • Abby’s – Best use of Digital media – Bronze Award for Best use of Digital display advertising
    • Digital Industry Awards 2017 - Best Use of Social Media in a Digital Campaign for Tata T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship 2017 for the year’s Digital Industry Awards
    • Use Dipper At Night Campaign – an innovative campaign to bring awareness amongst the truck driver community of safe practices continues to be extremely well received and acknowledged winning the Silver WARC Prize for Asian Strategy and award for the Best Channel Thinking.
    • Tata Yodha – This media campaign won the Bronze award at the prestigious Effies in India.
    • In order to promote various applications on the Company’s products a series of campaigns were organized on Pan India:
      • M&HCV Truck World – Organized 6 Truck World Exhibitions with a full range of over 35 different models displayed. The events were also used to highlight new product launches. This has been backed up with 10,000+ market activations including 3100+ customer meets and 1600+ Fuel Trials.
      • ILCV Expos – 53 ILCV Expos, showcasing the complete ILCV range of the Company, were conducted across 17 states with 18,500 customers in attendance
      • XL Series Launch Activities – 44 large and 114 small format XL Range launch events were conducted across 19 states, attended by over 28,000 potential customers
      • UP Yoddha Kabaddi Team – Tied up with the Pro Kabaddi League team UP Yoddha to promote the Tata Yodha range of pickups. This association was amplified though a concentrated promotion campaign including digital and Below The Line (‘BTL’) activities.
      • HAMARE BUS KI BAT HAI – a unique outreach program for school staff, to upgrade their soft skills touched more than 1500 schools in Fiscal 2018 alone. This meant touching more than 46,000 school staff in 800+ locations.
      • Bandhan Key Customer Meets – 7 large format key customer meets were organized in strategic markets across the country, with seniors CVBU leadership in attendance.
      • During Fiscal 2018, the Lucknow and Pantnagar plants were certified for Word Class Quality (WCQ) Level 3. The Incident Per Thousand Vehicles (‘IPTV’) has decreased significantly over the last 3 years.

    Passenger Vehicles

    The domestic PV industry grew by 7.3% during Fiscal 2018, registering a volume of 3.25 million vehicles. The growth in industry was mainly driven by growth in overall economy of India coupled with easing financing cost. This growth was driven by top 4 manufacturers only.

    The Company’s PV business registered a growth of 19.0% with total volumes of 184,743 vehicles. The market share of the Company for Fiscal 2018 was 5.7%. The Company sold 134,860 cars with a marginal de-growth of 1.2%, and 49,883 Utility Vehicle (UV) with a growth of 165.6% as compared with Fiscal 2017. The growth in UV segment was driven by strong demand for Nexon and Hexa. The sharp increase in sales was achieved despite a sharp decline in the Fleet Segment, in which the Company has been traditionally a big player. Focus on individual customers helped in increasing share of individual customers to over 85%. In the field of customer service, the Company ranked second in J D Power Customer Satisfaction Index Survey, which is a significant improvement over last few years. Dealer Network upgradation and working capital availability were prevailing constrains in PV sales and the Company has been working with TMF Holdings Limited, its financing arm and other banks to plug these gaps.

    During Fiscal 2018, the Company launched two new products namely Nexon and Tigor. Apart from these two main launches Tiago Wizz, Tiago AMT, Tigor AMT, Hexa Downtown and Zest limited editions were launched. All the newly launched cars experienced strong demand and wide acceptance from the market. After almost 6 years, one of the Company’s products, namely, Tiago figured among top 10 brands in car industry becoming the second highest selling model in compact car segment. Apart from these regular models, the Company made significant progress in electrical vehicles. The Company won the tender for supply of 10,000 electric cars to Energy Efficiency Services Limited (‘EESL’).

    The PV business has seen a sharp transformation in NPS from a negative score (-13) in Fiscal 2015 to positive score (14) in Fiscal 2018, significantly improving brand perception and pricing power of the PVs.

    During Fiscal 2018, the Pune and Sanand PV plants were certified for WCQ Level 3 while UV plant certified for WCQ Level 2. The warranty IPTV is at all time lowest level. Both these parameters are indicators of continued focus on quality improvement.

    Exports

    The Company exported 52,404 vehicles (Fiscal 2017: 64,221 vehicles) comprising 50,106 units of CV and 2,298 units of PV during Fiscal 2018.

    Export of CV dropped by 16.7% in Fiscal 2018 with 50,106 units exported compared to 60,184 units in Fiscal 2017. The prime reason for the drop in numbers was the drop in Total Industry Volumn (TIV) in two of our key markets, Nepal (by 34% due to duty changes) and Sri Lanka (by 39% due to liquidity crisis). Export shipments to Bangladesh achieved record shipments and retails. Market Share in all SAARC markets either improved or have been strong. Political distresses in the Middle East, Kenya and South Africa and economic slowdown and currency devaluations in various markets in Africa affected volumes in these regions in Fiscal 2018. The shipments to ASEAN doubled in Fiscal 2018 as compared to Fiscal 2017, making it our fastest growing region.

    In Fiscal 2018, the Company successfully bagged several prestigious orders, including 250 units of Xenon pickups, 200 units of LPTA 715 from the Myanmar Armed forces [making Myanmar Armed Forces the biggest customer of Xenon globally (1950 units)], 540 units of buses from ILOC, Senegal, 209 units from GVK EMRI Sri Lanka. Some of the key events in Fiscal 2018 were the launch of Prima in Philippines, Signa in Sri Lanka, Yodha in Nepal, Ultra buses in Tanzania, Ultra range in South Africa and unveiling of Ultra in Thailand and Indonesia. The complete CR range of ILCV was launched in Nepal.

    Export of PV stood at 2,298 units compared to 4,037 units in the Fiscal 2017. Two large markets remain non-operational, mainly Sri Lanka due to high import duties, tight retail financing and South Africa due to the closure of the distribution channel.

    During Fiscal 2018, launch of new models in Nepal and Bangladesh helped the Company to accrue 44% of its PV export volumes from launches. The Company successfully launched the Hexa, Tigor and Nexon in Nepal, where the Tigor and Nexon were both ‘Number One’ sedan and CUV respectively. The Tata Motors’ brand ranked ‘Number Three’ in the PV segment in Nepal, despite being present only in a limited number of high volume segments. In Bangladesh the Tiago AMT was ranked as ‘Number One’ hatchback.