Tata Motors expects strong sales this festive season, sets high hopes for new Nexon

The auto industry has seen a positive start to the two month long festive season across the country. The last two festive seasons were marred by elongated delivery period for most of the vehicles due to supply chain and chip shortage issues, however things look very bright this time.

Shailesh Chandra, MD (PV & EV Business), Tata Motors exclusively speaking to CNBC-TV18 on the sidelines of Nexon Launch said, "Early signs during the festive season have been encouraging. We expect same mood to prevail for 60 days throughout the festive season. We're confident of a very strong festive season."

Tata Motors feels that with strong supply, continued demand and new launches, these factors will make festive season demand strong.

The company is also counting a lot on the recent launch of facelift versions of Nexon and Nexon EV. The ICE variant of Nexon has been updated after 3 years with various cosmetics changes and increased usage of more gadgets and technology in the car. Chandra said, "More than 5.5 lakh lakh Nexon cars have been sold till now. Nexon remains to be the number 1 SUV. The Nexon EV pricing has been kept within the compact SUV segment bracket. With the combination of big changes in Nexon we would expect to expand our customer base."

The 2023 Tata Nexon, both ICE and EV versions, were launched on Thursday, September 14 with the price of petrol variants starting from Rs 8.09 lakh and the diesel variant costing Rs 11.69 lakh onwards. The new edition Nexon will be available in seven petrol variants and four diesel variants.

On being asked about trends in EV sales and whether there is a switch happening from ICE to EV, Chandra said, "There is growing popularity of EVs, 13-15 percent sales coming from EVs. We started selling EVs in 20 cities, now we're selling in 180 cities. Tiago EV was the gamechanger for the company. More than 50 percent EVs being sold beyond top 20 cities." Tata Motors will also be expanding the sale of its EVs in more cities.

While things majorly look bright for the auto industry, however the entry level segment is seeing pressure. When asked how is company's customer base shifting, Chandra said, "There is movement being seen in young buyers, they're looking for bigger cars. Regulations are creating pressure on entry segment cars, but regulations are there for all the right reasons. With regulatory changes cost goes up so does EMI burden. Need to verify movement from usage of second hand cars."

The company feels that hatch segment is seeing demand due to multi power train technology strategy.