While M&M will launch the electric version of XUV400 in the second week of September, Tata Motors is working on several parameters to bring down the cost of EV ownership.
A new electric car is being planned at a price point lower than the flagship Nexon, which is likely to be launched soon, Shailesh Chandra, managing director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd, said in an interview.
Tata Motors, which had 88% share of the electric passenger vehicle market in Q1FY23, is looking to woo the price-sensitive Indian consumer with Generation-1 and Generation-2 EVs at affordable prices over the next 12-18 months.
It is also set to launch the mid-sized electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) Tata Curvv in 2024, and its born electric, or Generation-3 EV range based on the AVINYA concept in 2025.
For Tata Motors, existing models like the Nexon EV and Tigor EV, are Gen-1 products as they’re based on existing IC-engine powertrains. Gen-2 products will be built on an upgraded platform, which is optimized for EVs, but can be utilized for both internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric models.
The carmaker will look to launch two new electric vehicles every year, or 10 new EVs, in the next five years, said Chandra. The model “more affordable" than its best-selling Nexon EV, is in the works and could be announced by the end of the year and , hit the market early next year, he said.
The new car could be based on the Tata Punch micro-SUV, said an industry insider, seeking anonymity.
“The cars will be at different affordability points from where the affordability for EVs starts today, and we have planned the sequence of the launches to give us the right spread of products we have. We will also bring feature-upgraded products," Chandra added.
Tata Motors’ long-range Nexon EV Max starts at an ex-showroom price of ₹17.7 lakh. Experts said M&M’s upcoming e-SUV XUV400, which is based on the XUV300 platform, may be offered at a similar price. The average waiting period for Nexon EV is six months.
Tata Motors is banking on a cycle of product refresh, which will hit the market next year onwards to keep attracting customers, even as its competitors launch a slew of new vehicles, particularly, SUVs.
Expanding powertrain options with CNG variants of existing models will be another important growth area for Tata Motors, said Chandra.
As competition intensifies in the EV segment leading up to 2024-25, when mass-market players will have multiple EVs built on dedicated, ground-up EV platforms, Tata Motors is betting on its high-intensity of launches to retain its leadership position.
“You have to give customers a plethora of choice: the wider is the range of portfolio, there’s a greater propensity of customers to shop in showrooms. And that is the way we are working on our strategy, which keeps this kind of a spread of products, and also brings rapidity to the development, especially for Gen-1 and Gen-2 products. And that’s the reason why we would generate a much larger portfolio in a short period, by 2024-25. We learnt a lot about how our vehicles operate in Indian conditions and have been optimizing it. We have clarity on how we will deliver a range of products with a much wider spread. The strategy should work for us well", Chandra added.
