Tata Motors hits purple patch in March, sells 1 lakh vehicles

New Delhi: Tata Motors says robust growth in sales of the Nano, Indica and Indigo family of cars has led to its highest-ever sales numbers this March. The company offers a number of diesel options in its cars (Indica and Indigo family), helping the company ride the robust diesel demand over the last few months.

Total sales (including exports) of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles in March were 100,414, a 20 percent growth over 83,363 vehicles sold in the same month last year. The company’s domestic sales of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles 2012 were 23 percent up at 95,047 units (77,431 units) .

[caption id=“attachment_263749” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Dealers say the Indica and Indigo cars have sold well because customers brought forward their purchases of diesel cars for fear of duty hikes in the budget. The duty hikes did not happen Reuters”]  [/caption]

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Dealers say the Indica and Indigo cars have sold well because customers brought forward their purchases of diesel cars for fear of duty hikes in the budget. The duty hikes did not happen.

Even the Nano - which has no diesel variant as of now - has seen sales touching all-time highs last month. A Tata Motors’ spokesperson told Firstpost that a CNG version of the Tata Nano is expected some time this fiscal but there is no timeline yet for the diesel variant of what was formerly touted as the Rs 1 lakh car.

He said “There has been an upward trend in Nano volumes, as indicated by our sales graph. There are several marketing and distribution initiatives going on, including expansion of the network, which are resulting in a progressive expansion of sales. At present, the Nano is being exported to Sri Lanka and Nepal.”

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But Nano sales continue to be much lower than expectations, at least for its dealers. Though dispatches (from factories to dealers) rose to their highest levels in a single month in March at 10,475 units against just 8,707 units in March 2011, dealers maintain that actual sales remain lukewarm.

A prominent dealer in Maharashtra told Firstpost “sales of the Nano have been averaging 5,000-6,000 units a month nationwide against plant capacity of about 30,000 units a month. After the excise hike in the budget, prices have also increased by anywhere between Rs 4,000-9,000, depending on the variant.Unless the company launches new variants, sales are unlikely to pick up. They have been talking of a CNG variant since the Auto Expo this year, lets see when that arrives”.

However, dealer discounts have receded from peak levels seen when the company was averaging monthly sales of 500 units of the world’s cheapest car. At that time, total discounts on the car worked out to about Rs 30,000 but they have now been halved to just about Rs 15,000-17,000. Dealers said unless the company took sales of this car seriously, expected volumes may remain unattainable.