[MunnabhaiMBBS]

2015 : TATA Opportunity Fund invested in Uber.

Here comes the next move. Sab Kuch TATA!

2016/06: An agreement enabling the TATA Group to service the Uber Technologies in following capacities.

Agreement Value : $160 million

• Tata Capital and Tata Motors Finance: Vehicle purchase & financing schemes.
• Tata Motors: Will make Indica & Indigo available for purchase.
• Tata AIG: Will provide the vehicle insurance.
• Tata Business Support Services: Will act as Facilitators for interested parties.

Next 1 year objective of Tata group: To enable over 20,000 drivers to start their own business on the Uber platform all over India.

Current Scheme status: Scheme has been rolled out in Hyderabad.

Source : http://auto.economictimes.indiatimes...chase/52780685

PS : On a lighter note, TATA made sure that at least Uber taxi fleet owners do not convert Tiagos, Bolts into Taxis

[libranof1987]

While this sounds good on paper, I wonder how successful it will be.

Without exaggeration, NONE of the new Uber vehicles that I've traveled in have been Tata vehicles. I use Uber extensively and find most of the newer cars to be Swift Dzires and on occasion Etios or Punto.

I think even most of the cab drivers have moved on the Indica.

This thread is a good reference point:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post3970834

Tata should retire the Indica/Indicab/Indigo brand now.

The other aspects of the deal: financing, Insurance and business support though

[WorkingGuru]

Yesterday, on 2 different occasions, I saw a Zest & a Bolt with yellow registration plate. I guess once dealer sells the car, he has no control over cars usage / registration.

IMO a brilliant car like Zest has sold SUCH a few copies, that its important Tata finds a way to make people know its potential.

Uber is mostly chosen by people who CAN afford cars, but they choose not to drive on that day for some reason.

Instead of flogging their old Indica, if they provide Zest as Uber/Ola/TFS cabs, their brand will actually get the exposure it needs, to succeed. Even if it returns lower margins.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Without exaggeration, NONE of the new Uber vehicles that I've traveled in have been Tata vehicles. I use Uber extensively and find most of the newer cars to be Swift Dzires and on occasion Etios or Punto.

The other aspects of the deal: financing, Insurance and business support though

Agree with you on the Financing, Insurance and business support aspects of the deal. Good work by Tata stepping in early.

However, there are quite a few Uber Indicas here in Bangalore, and I have travelled in them several times.

One difference I did note was that Uber partners in Pune/Mumbai said the company only accepts new cars, while in Bangalore most of the non-Toyota vehicles are older taxis that have joined the Uber platform. Maybe this agreement is to ensure that more Tata Indica/Indigo are sold.

Originally Posted by WorkingGuru

Instead of flogging their old Indica, if they provide Zest as Uber/Ola/TFS cabs, their brand will actually get the exposure it needs, to succeed. Even if it returns lower margins.

I agree with you personally, but brand Tata is such that even within my family there was resistance to Tata because of the taxi image.

In TBHP itself there have been many comments about the Taxi image of Tata, so I'm sure they don't want that affecting their newer models.

Not actively supporting fleet sales from the Zest onwards might be a step in this direction, though as you said they can't do much after the vehicle has been sold (on a Temporary Registration, for example maybe?).

[GTO]

Brilliant move - one of few smart moves I've seen from Tata in the recent past.

Taxis have always formed an important sales component for Tata Motors. This partnership will benefit 3 group companies - Tata Motors, Tata Capital / Finance & Tata-AIG.

Fleet cab owners are incredibly price sensitive, hence if Tata offers them heavy discounts, it could be enough to sway a good number of customers away from the competition.

All said & done, from the customer's POV, the Indigo does have an awesome backseat. It's the only thing we remember positively from our Indigo ownership experience.

Originally Posted by WorkingGuru

Yesterday, on 2 different occasions, I saw a Zest & a Bolt with yellow registration plate.

The Bolt & Zest will surely follow in this Tata-Uber scheme. They have failed in the market and Tata is desperate to keep the production line running.

I guess once dealer sells the car, he has no control over cars usage / registration.

Correct. But it's the special discounting that draws cabbies to a particular model. He'll always pick a discounted car over one that's selling at the regular price.

Uber is mostly chosen by people who CAN afford cars, but they choose not to drive on that day for some reason.

Disagreed. A good part of Uber's customer base is from non-car owners.

[Viju]

Originally Posted by GTO

All said & done, from the customer's POV, the Indigo does have an awesome backseat. It's the only thing we remember positively from our Indigo ownership experience.

Totally agree. I will never forget the comfort and legroom in the backseat of an Indigo XL cab while travelling in Delhi. Can't think of any other OEM making a tailor-suited taxi car for the Indian market. Too bad it wasn't very popular.

Moreover, I don't agree with people who say that Tata needs to move out of the taxi market to become popular among personal buyers. There are brilliant cars across the world which are popular among personal and taxi buyers equally (E-Class and Innova come running to mind). Tata should continue to do what it does best - make spacious cars which ride well - but improve upon the other areas and make brilliant VFM cars like the Tiago.

I really hope the investment in Uber pays off for them!

[TD_GHY]

Originally Posted by Viju

Moreover, I don't agree with people who say that Tata needs to move out of the taxi market to become popular among personal buyers. There are brilliant cars across the world which are popular among personal and taxi buyers equally (E-Class and Innova come running to mind). Tata should continue to do what it does best - make spacious cars which ride well - but improve upon the other areas and make brilliant VFM cars like the Tiago.

Agree. Also look at Suzuki Dzire. Today, it looks like half of Uber/Ola cabs are Dzire/Dzire tour yet sales of the Swift twins for personal use has not gone down one bit.

[ashutoshb]

Ola Delhi has come up with an offer for Bolt, Indica and Indigo. Upto 50k in discounts. Which means, Tata has started offering Bolt for commercial registration.

[mi2n]

Though the Indigo trumps most in respect of back seat comfort, I have always found the huge glass space(windows) an irritant. Also, an Xcent of similar vintage seems so much more cushy inside. In Kolkata, Ola has a few Bolts and Zests and I personally find them much better than the Tours and Xcents, never mind the Indigos. Also, the Ritz Tour is already on sale which offers adequate space too. I find no reason to continue flogging the Indigo/Indica anymore. Even the more modern Beat Ds should feel the heat from the Ritz Tour. The Beat can never be accepted as a Taxi owing to the cramped rear seats.

[E63]

Wow.

1) Tata thoroughly revamps its entire portfolio because it wants to get rid of the taxi image. Out go the Manza, the Vista, the indigo cs and the indica and the Sumo name in the Grande etc. In come the Bolt, the Zest and the Tiago.
2) Tata doesnt even sell a white coloured Zest (or was it bolt) at the starting
3) Tata finds no takers in the consumer market for its products
4) Tata decides to partner with a Taxi company.

After wasting millions of Dollars on such brand re-building and re-inventing, what has Tata gained?

[danlalan]

Big blow for the Black/yellow cabs in Mumbai.
Looks like these will slowly replace the ageing Black/yellow taxi fleet over the years.
Why has Tata left out the other players olx,tab..etc.

[drmohitg]

I think this is a brilliant move. These online app based cab aggregators are here to stay and are the future of public transport. Tata cars are still one of the most spacious in their segments and the newer vehicles are relatively of much better quality.

Another vehicle I feel they should try to push in this segment is the Nano. Run it on the most basic fares and I think it will attract a large number of customers as no one will mind travelling in a Nano if it costs them less for the ride. For airprot and other runs with luggage then the customer can easily opt for a vehicle from a superior category.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by E63

After wasting millions of Dollars on such brand re-building and re-inventing, what has Tata gained?

Hopefully the realization that at heart they are still a B2B company, and have no clue how to deal with consumers

Hopefully their next Transformation will involve their service operations also, like they did with the Indica V2 Rollout.

For cabbies, with tata group providing end to end services, hopefully the indicabs should be available at a discount. Plus since the customer does not have much choice of cab, it doesnt make much sense for an uber go driver to buy a quality hatchback from a pure ROI standpoint (unless the cabbie has this in mind)

The interesting bit is Tata BSS getting involved - Does this mean uber will finally get a customer phone support (especially since this scheme has been rolled out in hyd, where TBSS is based) ?

[ashutoshb]

I fail to understand why are we making fun of Tata.

Almost every auto manufacturer has started offering their cars to the aggregators, irrespective of whether its a sales dud or not.

Honda, Hyundai, Maruti, Chevrolet, Nissan, Datsun, Mahindra, Ford, all have been pushing their cars into this segment.

Its only pure business sense, that in order to achieve the required sales numbers, they are doing so.

Why target only Tata?

Are we not past the 'taxi image' era. Earlier, the Indicas were vastly used in the BPO sector, and from there the image got stuck.

But, in the times of Olas and Ubers, do we really keep that 'image' in mind if we buy the Xcent, the Grand i10 or even the Honda Amaze?, thousands of which are being used by both the aggregators.

[Viju]

Originally Posted by E63

Tata thoroughly revamps its entire portfolio because it wants to get rid of the taxi image. Out go the Manza, the Vista, the indigo cs and the indica and the Sumo name in the Grande etc. In come the Bolt, the Zest and the Tiago.

Sorry, but how did you come to this conclusion? Did Tata Motors ever issue a press release stating they want to get rid of the taxi image? They had to replace those platforms because they were totally outdated.

I don't understand why only Tata is bashed when it comes to selling cars to taxis, when the Marutis and Toyotas are easily forgiven! Do you really think any mass-market OEM would prefer to protect an 'image' by not selling vehicles for commercial use? Any of them would give an arm and a leg to sell thousands of vehicles month after month to the taxi segment!