The production of Indica in FY17 stood at 19,042 units, and in FY18, it dropped substantially to 1,686 units. Photo: Bloomberg
New Delhi: Tata Motors has stopped production of its once popular compact car Indica and Indigo CS sedan since the demand for these products plummeted over the past two years.
The capacity will now be used to manufacture the recently launched and upcoming products of the company.
Indica—launched in 1998—was one of the popular offerings from the company’s stable and was the preferred choice in the commercial taxi segment as well. Even after the launch of Zest (a compact sedan) and Bolt (a hatchback), in 2014, Indica continued to be the best selling model of Tata Motors until Tiago was introduced.
“With the changing market dynamics and the evolution of Tata Motors design language towards impactful design, we have decided to phase out the Indica and the Indigo CS, a common phenomenon in a product lifecycle. We will continue to serve our extended family of Indica and Indigo customers by providing them the necessary service support,” said a spokesperson of the company in a statement.
In order to revive its fortunes in the domestic market, the Mumbai-based car maker has launched four new products in the domestic market—Tiago, Hexa, Tigor and Nexon—in the last two fiscal years and the existing capacity of the firm in Pune and Sanand will be used to manufacture these products. Tata Motors is also expected to launch a compact utility vehicle in India in collaboration with British subsidiary Jaguar and Land Rover.
“We have stopped the production of these vehicles since there was no demand for such products anymore in the domestic market. The new offerings are doing well and a decision has been taken to increase the manufacturing of the new products,” said a person directly aware of the development requesting anonymity. The production of Indica in FY17 stood at 19,042 units and in FY18 it dropped substantially to 1,686 units. The same for Indigo CS stood at 14,976 units in FY17 while it nosedived to just 556 units in the following year.
“For the past two decades, the Tata Indica—India’s first, fully indigenous passenger car—has been the frontrunner of Tata Motors’ PV line-up. Establishing itself as a ‘coming of age car’ for India, the Indica has been a much loved and admired brand. The Indica was followed by the Indigo launch in 2002. The Indigo too was received well in the PV market,” said spokesperson of Tata Motors in the above mentioned statement.