Tiago marks new chapter in firm's history: Tata Motors CEO

Mumbai: Tata Motors’ latest offering Tiago will “rock the boat” and marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the company, the newly-appointed Tata Motors chief executive and MD Guenter Butschek has said. [caption id=“attachment_2637654” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Tiago. Image courtesy Twitter[/caption] “The Tiago is a game-changing product. The competitive hatchback segment is the largest market segment here (with more than 50 per cent market share), and the way we have positioned it as the new market entry product, it is going to rock the boat,” Butschek told PTI when asked how he expects the Tiago to fare in the market. “Today, 6th of April, 2016, will be a historic day for us as we are beginning a new chapter in our company,” Butschek, who took over the reins in February, added. The company today rolled out its much-awaited hatchback Tiago with a killer price of Rs 3.2 lakh for the entry-level model. The car comes in a 1.2 L petrol engine with five variants and a 1.05 L diesel engine with five variants too. Many analysts and dealers have described the Tiago as the make-or-break product for the company, which has been struggling with its passenger vehicles business. Not just pricing, but mileage gives the Tiago an edge, which sets a record offering 23.84 kmpl for the petrol model and over 27.28 kmpl for the diesel variant, Pratap Bose, its design head, said. Stating future of Tata Motors’ is well-orchestrated, Butschek said the Tiago has all the ingredients for a successful model. “It is a great product, competitive pricing and right sales and service experience. We have done our homework, and Tiago has one big advantage, it can talk on its own. At this point, Tiago is the strongest brand ambassador we have,” Butschek added. Asked about the lack of good after-sales service which has been dogging the company for long, he said with this product “you will see a sea change in the way we deal with our customers and even prospective ones. I assure you, you will see a new Tata Motors sales people”. Expressing optimism that company is riding into a great future, he talked about four new game-changing models in the pipeline - the Tiago, Hexa the SUV and two more which all have strong family characteristics, high-quality standards, strong brand identities and cutting-edge technology. “We have always been ground-breaking in passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle segments,” he said when asked if the Tiago will be able to replicate the success story it scripted in the commercial vehicle segment. On how important is the Tiago launch for Tata Motors, he said, “This is the first car that takes the three components - quality, design and technology - into future.” He added: “It’s the first car that actually comes out of the new processes applied, and most important, it’s the first product built on the basis of our newly-designed platform, which ensures stringent quality parameters. For instance, we now have only fully audited suppliers.” He hoped the Tiago will be transformational. But Butschek refused to offer any sales expectations or production target, merely saying “we can meet market demand”. “The rules of the game have not changed. It’s a very dynamic market environment, and we have done our homework and so we are very positive we can claim a good portion of the market with Tiago,” he said further.