Tata Motors aims to have widest portfolio of SUV in domestic market

Tata Motors aims to have the widest portfolio of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in the domestic market, a move aimed at helping the company muster greater market share in the passenger vehicle segment, according to a top company official.

The auto major, which currently sells models like Nexon and Harrier in the SUV segment, is also looking to overhaul its entire sales, aftersales and service verticals to enhance the overall buying experience for customers.

"The move to shift to SUVs is very clear. There is a shift happening towards the SUV segment not only in India but globally also. In 2015 the share of SUVs in the domestic market used to be only 15 per cent but this year it is around 30 per cent," Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Business Unit President Shailesh Chandra told.

It is therefore imperative that whosoever has greater share of SUVs in the portfolio will have a greater pie, share of the market, he added.

"So we have taken note of that sometime back and accordingly targeted to have the widest SUV portfolio," Chandra said.

Both Nexon and Harrier were doing great in the market in terms of sales numbers, he noted.

"Harrier has seen a significant jump from what we were doing last year on the back of the new automatic version we have come out with. Nexon did its highest ever sales last month and I hope it continues to do well," Chandra said.

The company is now gearing up to roll out two new models in the portfolio.

"Going forward two additional models are going to come- Gravitas and Hornbill (codenames). Gravitas will be a seven-seater SUV while Hornbill will be a sub compact SUV so we will have four SUVs in our portfolio which would be the widest portfolio," Chandra said.

Hornbill with a very aggressive position at one end and Gravitas at the other end, the company with four products would be well poised to tap the growing trend towards SUVs, he noted.