With vehicle inventory hitting 50-60 days, the Indian passenger vehicle market is expected to see flattish growth from July to September of the second quarter, claims Shailesh Chandra, MD of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility. This is before the market returns to positive territory in the festive season, with retails holding steady.
Chandra says while the wholesale numbers may appear lower, the retails are going to be better. Tata Motors on its part has already pivoted focus on Vahan registration numbers over despatches.
Reviewing the current market demand on the sidelines of the Tata Curvv EV launch on Wednesday, Chandra told Autocar Professional that the base of Q2 FY24 was very high, as the industry was aggressively filling stock ahead of last year’s festive season, which will pull the market into negative territory this year.
“The accurate indicator is inquiry levels, which hold steady, though the conversion takes time. Sustained inquiry levels show that the demand is not as stressed as the wholesale reflects. Things should get better in the festive season,” Chandra noted.
Elaborating on the market trend, the MD of Tata Motors believes that the H2 or second half will be much better than the first half, led by the festive season and the new launches.
“With the confidence of sustained inquiry levels, things should get better. However, I still believe the numbers would be much lower than the industry budgeted for the full year. In the festive season, there will be growth, but it may be around 5% only on a high base,” explained Chandra.
While the growth rate appears lower, the head of Tata Motors still says these have been seen in a positive light as the absolute base has grown significantly in the last few years.
“From 2.7 million units four years back, the market has grown to 4.2 million, and sustaining the number at this level will be very good. It is a win for the industry. A 50% growth in four years is very good, and we will still grow in FY25, which is very good,” he noted.
Tata Motors is banking on new launches to ride the season. The company launched the Curvv EV on Wednesday. Within several weeks, it will also announce the prices of internal combustion engine variants of the SUV Coupe, which will generate more excitement for its brand.
“Our action should be significantly better than the industry led by the new launches. We will use the festive period to outperform the market,” added Chandra.
The company is preparing for an incremental volume of 3000 to 4000 units per month, with its newly launched Curvv and refreshes and new variants of its existing portfolio will further infuse some excitement into the Tata Motors brand.