Tata Motors, India's biggest electric carmaker, is testing its electric vehicles in some global markets where it could look at a potential launch if the experiment succeeds, its managing director told Reuters.
The tests are in early stages and based on how the cars
perform, Tata may need to make some changes to the product before it can
finalise and develop a "go to market" strategy, Shailesh Chandra said
in an interview.
"It is about which markets I should be in, with what
products and with what kind of distribution strategy. We are assessing some
markets, running our cars, discussing with business partners," he said.
Chandra said it was too early to discuss details of the
export markets and there would be more clarity next year.
Tata also plans to roll out new car dealerships over coming
quarters in some Indian cities that will exclusively sell EVs as sales of its
clean cars gain momentum and it lines up faster launches of new electric
models, Chandra said.
Sales of EVs globally have been growing as tighter emission
regulations push carmakers to increase the share of electric cars in their
portfolio. While Tesla still leads the EV race, Chinese rivals like BYD are
catching up with new factories and aggressive exports.
Tata Motors, which already sells three EV models, launched
its fourth electric car in New Delhi on Thursday — a new version of its Nexon
electric SUV with a starting price of Rs. 1.5 million, which can be driven for
465 kilometres on a single charge.
The EV maker has a more than 80 percent share of India's
electric car market, which is small but growing, and where it competes with
China's MG Motor and home-grown Mahindra & Mahindra. Tesla is also eyeing
an India factory and is in talks with the government to build a $24,000 car.
Electric models made up about 2 percent of total car sales
in India of 3.9 million last fiscal year and the government wants to grow this
to 30 percent by 2030.
The Mumbai-based automaker has said it plans to have 10
electric cars in its portfolio over the next 3-4 years with EVs making up 25
percent of its total car sales by 2025. Chandra said the company is on track to
meet its targets, including plans to sell around 1,00,000 EVs in the current
fiscal year.
Growing sales and the new Nexon EV have become the catalyst
for its plan to launch EV-only dealerships, Chandra said.
"It is not going to be a pan-India roll out, it is
going to be a progressive roll out. We want to understand fully the implication
of an exclusive outlet versus what we were selling with the existing
outlets," Chandra said.
Tata has a country-wide dealership network for its gasoline
and diesel cars through which it currently also sells its EVs. Chandra said the
roll out of new EV outlets would be in small and big cities, depending on its
current network of dealerships.
Tata's ability to ramp up production of its EVs and launch
new electric car models at a faster pace will also support its plan for new
dealerships, which can now offer a broader portfolio, making them more viable,
Chandra said.
"Earlier, the bigger problem was our lack of assessment
of demand... today we are very well prepared to deal with a faster ramp
up," he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment