Tata Motors will launch its newest SUV, the Harrier, this month. But while that’s bound to widen the brand’s presence, here’s what the current line up has managed in the past month. In December, the overall sales (commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles) in the domestic market witnessed a drop by 8 per cent, while the export market was also impacted. Tata registered a drop of 36 per cent in the latter.
The company mentions that the decline in sales in the domestic market was due to low consumer sentiments, liquidity crisis, rising fuel costs, higher interest rates, etc. Elections in Bangladesh and political uncertainty in Sri Lanka are said to be the main reasons behind lower exports. But on the bright side, the cumulative (April-December 2018) sales grew by 25 per cent.
In the passenger vehicles segment, the company sold 14,260 units in December 2018, registering a growth of 1 per cent. But the real difference is in the April-December performance. During the period in 2018, Tata Motors sold 156,397 units. Which in comparison to what it achieved in the corresponding period in 2017 is a growth of 21 per cent.
Tata Motors’s President for Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Mayank Pareek said, “In December 2018, we have strived to maintain our growth trajectory during what was a rather sluggish period for the entire auto industry. Despite the challenging environment last month, Tata Motors PV business outperformed the industry with a growth of 1%, fueled by the good performance of our new generation products like the Nexon, Tiago, Hexa and the new Tigor, we are happy to conclude this year with a promise to perform even better in the new year. With the Harrier launch scheduled for 23rd January, 2019, we are gearing up to introduce to the market our much awaited SUV. We will continue to work towards driving volumes and increasing our market share in 2019.”
