Monday, February 06, 2023
By Kamal Swami
Tata Motors To Focus On EVs and CNG Cars
Keeping the implementation of stage two BS6 emission norms that will come into effect from April 2023, domestic carmaker Tata Motors has started developing its strategy for the coming years. According to the sources of the company, it aims to have 60% of its passenger vehicles to have electric and CNG powertrains. The remaining per cent of the passenger vehicles will be petrol based combined with a mixture of flex-fuel engines. The carmaker dominates the electric car market in India with 85% of the share.
In the words of Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director for Passenger Vehicles and Electric Vehicles, at Tata Motors, said that the company wants to retain its dominance in the electric car market segment. For this, the company is working on a model mix strategy. According to Chandra, this will model mix strategy will have a combination of electric, CNG, and petrol-based models. He also added, "If we have to take a view by the end of this decade, the mix will be around 25-30 per cent for CNG, 25-30 per cent for the EV, and the rest would be petrol, but with a high mix of flex-fuel because that is the direction where things are going”.
It would be interesting to note that, like other car makers, Tata Motors is also avoiding the launch of diesel cars. The main reason behind this shift is the increasing cost of raw materials used for developing diesel vehicles due to new emission norms. The introduction of the new emission norms will make the production of diesel cars costlier. Keeping this fact in concern, Chandra believes this will drop the share of diesel cars in the country. Speaking on the adoption of the new BS6 norms, Chandra said, “the company is already on track for that and ahead of the deadline”. He also added, "In terms of actions, we are willing to go for very focused demand generation initiatives specifically in certain segments as well as hypermarkets”.
