Tata Motors’ Passenger Vehicles continue growth momentum in April 2017

Tata Motors commercial vehicles were affected by the Supreme Court judgement announced on March 29, with the ban on BS3 sales, leading to the need for a higher quantity of BS4 stock for April sales.

The higher demand at short notice, was not met in production, as vendors struggled to meet with the higher demand, especially in the MHCV segments. Moreover, after the strong pre-buying of BS3 vehicles in March, and the price increase of BS4 vehicles (especially in the MHCV and Buses at 8-10%), demand for BS4 vehicles was also weak. The commercial vehicles sales in April 2017, in the domestic market, were at 16,017 nos., lower by 36% over April 2016. This is an unusual decline, in exceptional circumstances.

Tata Motors expects production, wholesales and retails to pick up in May and June.

Tata Motors passenger and commercial vehicle total sales (including exports) in April 2017 were at 30,972 vehicles, a degrowth of 21% over 39,389 vehicles sold in April 2016. The company’s domestic sales of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles for April 2017 were at 28,844 nos., lower by 19%, over 35,604 nos., in April 2016.

Commenting on the sales performance, Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, said, “While the industry faced short-term headwinds further to the BS III verdict, Tata Motors continued its robust sales performance with a growth of 23% in April led by a strong pipeline for Tiago and a positive response for our new lifestyle UV - Tata HEXA. We have successfully completed the launch of Tata TIGOR across the country and are delighted that it has been well received by our customers. We hope to see this momentum continue with an encouraging growth on the back of our strong product portfolio.”