Tata Motors to keep Indica, Indigo for taxi market

Earlier this year, we had reported that Tata Motors will not be making its future cars available for the taxi market (click here to read report). Now the company has disclosed that it will continue to cater to the commercial segment, but with different brands and products to the ones it sells to private buyers. It wants specific brands in the commercial segment and specific brands in the private segment.

This step is being taken because the company feels that in India, a brand which does well in the commercial market, is not accepted in the personal usage segment. Tata Motors will use only its old cars like the Indica and Indigo for the taxi market. The company feels that the two brands have been well accepted in the segment.

Cars like the Zest and Bolt are the first ones to be sold exclusively in the private segment. Tata Motors feels that these cars have been successful to an extent in changing the perception that it is only a diesel car manufacturer and a producer of taxis.

Any new products that the company produces will be first offered to private buyers. These products might move to the commercial segment when their replacements are introduced in the personal segment.

According to Tata Motors, the needs of private and commercial buyers are different from each other. For the taxi segment, the main points considering by a buyer are high fuel efficiency, high uptime, low turnaround time during service, good network infrastructure and low maintenance. 

To address these needs, the company wants separate products which are engineered differently.

Source: Economic Times