[drive_factor]

Tata really needs to tame the elephant in the room, in this case its dealers, to play a lasting inning.

One must be a die hard Tata fanboy to endure a Tata dealership experience and still be wanting a Tata car.

From personal experience this has deteriorated further in last 5 years.

[shortbread]

Tata now needs to focus and re-energise the Altroz line up. Firstly with a noticeable facelift, widening the DCT availability across all variants incl. turbos/diesels and finally launching an EV variant.

Do this well and the Altroz can get closer to the 5 figure mark monthly. Tata needs such a plan if it intends to consolidate the no.2 position, cos rest assured the Koreans will come back aggressively to claw back market share.

[Emvi]

Tata motors have managed to shed the "taxi" image superlatively well and looking at where they stand now, its highly commendable! If scaling a peak is an achievement in itself, staying there requires an even greater effort.

A niggle free car is what everyone wants to purchase and its given that not each and every car manufatured can be free of niggles. While this holds true for all manufacturers, Tata cars, especially the flagship products, unfortunately throw up more niggles than the competition going by the reports on the forum and outside. More than the niggles, how they are handled or sorted out by service centres is what matters the most. This is where Tata Motors have to tighten up significantly. Tata's after sales service is a matter of concern for most of the prospective buyers and fence-sitters. Inspite of having a very well established dealer network, its hard to fathom what's stopping them from providing quality service!?

Another important thing to note is that Nexon and Punch together account close to 60 percent(24855 copies out of 43341) of total sales! Nexon is primarily eating into the sales of Brezza, Venue, and Sonet, not hard to imagine why.

Brezza- No diesel option and the much awaited new model is just a few days away from launch.

Venue- Although has a diesel option, lacks road presence in comparison, which seems to have been taken care of in the soon to be launched facelift.

Sonet- Extremely long waiting period more than anything else.

It will be really interesting to see if Nexon can continue to lead the pack once the new Brezza and Venue hit the roads.

Punch has no direct competition or a potent competitor. If Hyundai can manage to price the lower variants of Venue aggressively, Punch might feel the heat IMO. Altroz and Tiago aren't giving the sales volume as they are probably expected of. Interesting times ahead! I am not a great fan of Tata cars, but I am certainly a fan of Tata "the manufacturer". I wish Tata all the success.

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by Emvi

Tata's after sales service is a matter of concern for most of the prospective buyers and fence-sitters. Inspite of having a very well established dealer network, its hard to fathom what's stopping them from providing quality service!?

It is not the dealerships. It is the manufacturing quality. Tata cars face many issues just outside of the factory even before they complete the first 10k km. These issues are what give the dealerships a bad name. Such customers will be a furious lot because they are new owners and even the smallest of issues from the dealership will get amplified.

All dealership employees are the same in my opinion. Tata dealers get the bad name because they encounter the most issues in the first one year of car ownership than every other manufacturer in India.

[volkman10]

Hyundai regains the 2nd spot beating Tata Motors, in June sales.


Hyundai - 49,001

TATA Motors - 45,197( includes 3,507 EV's)

Mahindra: 26880

[Garud]

Originally Posted by shortbread

Tata now needs to focus and re-energise the Altroz line up. Firstly with a noticeable facelift, widening the DCT availability across all variants incl. turbos/diesels and finally launching an EV variant.

Do this well and the Altroz can get closer to the 5 figure mark monthly. Tata needs such a plan if it intends to consolidate the no.2 position, cos rest assured the Koreans will come back aggressively to claw back market share.

Couldn't agree more. When the Altroz was launched 2 years ago (before the world was up in flames), it was extremely competitive in terms of features. But the last few months have introduced us cars which are extremely modern in terms of features. I remember seeing a thread the other day having an in depth analysis of this. I believe that Tata should look at October to be a good time to bring in a facelift for the Altroz, since the new safety rules will be coming into place then.

I myself am considering buying a premium hatch and had been eyeing the Altroz for a while now but the i10nline makes me confused. A facelift would make it easier for me to go for the Altroz.

[ashutoshb]

Tata should seriously think of launching the ICE version of their 4.3 metre Curvv first.

The gap between the Nexon and the Harrier is hurting them the most.

With the Nexon Max starting from 18 lakhs, the Curvv EV would easily cross the 20 lakh barrier, well beyond the approach of many.

[simplyself]

Originally Posted by ashutoshb

Tata should seriously think of launching the ICE version of their 4.3 metre Curvv first.

The gap between the Nexon and the Harrier is hurting them the most.

With the Nexon Max starting from 18 lakhs, the Curvv EV would easily cross the 20 lakh barrier, well beyond the approach of many.

Yes, Tata must position a vehicle between Nexon and Harrier. For many people, Nexon is too small and Harrier too big. Creta and Seltos are ruling the market, and having a good diesel engine, why not tune it and use it in that slot?

Also, Tata lost it completely in compact sedan space. Tigor was a very good looker but it was done in by weak diesel engine. There was no replacement for the Zest. Though Nexon and Zest are identical in length, some people do like a three box car.

Two more segments Tata should look at are the proper sedan and the 7 Seater segment. competing with the Ertiga.

Verna and the City are the only two cars with deisel engines, and the Amaze is the lone wolf in that segment.

Though the SUV market is gaining, not every one likes to own and drive an SUV but they do not have many options in diesel. Tata should aim for that. Sedan market might increase if offered with more options in diesel.

[Garud]

I wonder if they ever plan to bring in the e-vision at all? Its a beautiful looking car, and knowing how close Tata production cars are in comparison to their concepts, it would look splendid.

[ashutoshb]

Originally Posted by simplyself

Two more segments Tata should look at are the proper sedan and the 7 Seater segment. competing with the Ertiga.

Yep. MUVs is another space Tata doesnt have a presence.

Wish they could now think of launching the Hexa BS6. If the variant line up stretches from 10 to 20 lakhs, Tata will pull customers from several segments.

At the bottom end of the market, an Altroz based MPV is something they can explore. They should atleast bring a concept to the auto expo and guage the response it gets.

[Benoit]

Tata has been focusing more on EV than ICE. Tata has the ICE engines. With their diesel engine, they can still dominate the diesel market.

They can launch a compact sedan with the same set of engines from Altroz, and a mid size sedan with the Nexon engines. But it doesn't seem like they want to. Sedans do not rule the market now. SUVs do.

They launched the punch. It's based on the ALFA platform, same as the Altroz. The diesel and turbo petrol engines are already available in Altroz, but they do not want to use it. They only launched the NA petrol, and its doing numbers.

But from a customer's perspective, having cars across all segments instills a lot of confidence on the brand, and enables cross shopping. If there was a diesel compact sedan as wide as the Altroz, I would have bought that instead of the Altroz.

[Garud]

Originally Posted by Benoit

Sedans do not rule the market now. SUVs do.

This is a truth that hurts. I really wish brands would take a leap and introduce actual hot hatches in the 10-15 lakh range. I don't see how different a micro SUV would be from a hot hatch at that price point. But its SUV everywhere nowadays.

[Benoit]

Originally Posted by Garud

This is a truth that hurts. I really wish brands would take a leap and introduce actual hot hatches in the 10-15 lakh range. I don't see how different a micro SUV would be from a hot hatch at that price point. But its SUV everywhere nowadays.

There's a dearth of diesel hatch. Altroz with the nexon spec diesel could've been a killer hatch, beating the figo and the polo. I believe it would've sold better numbers than the current spec.

Even WRT petrol hatches, given the exit of polo, i20 only comes next to polo, it's not an equivalent to polo in terms of performance. The i20 nline is supposed to be a hot hatch. Altroz could easily do a 120BHP, 170 Nm turbo petrol. I didn't why they want to detune it in the first place.

[Garud]

Originally Posted by Benoit

Altroz could easily do a 120BHP, 170 Nm turbo petrol. I didn't why they want to detune it in the first place.

I wish they did a limited run of a "#sportz" edition or whatever to gauge the market sentiment. Maybe the chassis isn't able to handle the extra power for whatever reason.

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by Garud

I wish they did a limited run of a "#sportz" edition or whatever to gauge the market sentiment. Maybe the chassis isn't able to handle the extra power for whatever reason.

6 speed gearbox cannot be accommodated in Altroz apparently. Present GB cannot handle more torque.