The Hindu : Business : Tata Indigo Marina launch today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004

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Business

Tata Indigo Marina launch today

By Ramnath Subbu

PUNE, SEPT. 14. Tata Motors today showcased its new estate, Tata Indigo Marina, at a press-preview at its manufacturing facility here. The Indigo Marina, slated for launch tomorrow, is the fifth model from the company and follows the successful launch of Tata Indigo in December 2002.

The Indigo Marina will be positioned as a premium, aspirational car in the mid-size C segment. It will be launched in three models of petrol and two models of diesel in five colours.

Addressing the media here today, V. Sumantran, Executive Director (engineering research centre and passenger car business unit), Tata Motors, said, "We believe that the Indigo Marina will create a new segment in the market.''

The Indigo Marina will be launched with an 18 month unlimited kilometre warranty and will be available through 130 dealerships backed by a 500 strong service network across 200 cities.

Tata Motors' market share in the domestic passenger car market has improved to 17.3 per cent from 15.5 per cent in the previous year and its sales are growing by 29.7 per cent this fiscal with two of its four brands being among the top ten selling models in the country.

Rajiv Dube, Vice President (commercial, passenger car business unit), Tata Motors, said, "The full potential of the car platform is still to be fully exploited. The C segment passenger car market in India is 9,000 units a month (5,500 units a month a year ago). Of this, Indigo contributed 3,000 vehicles a month. Among the existing nine models in the market, the Indigo has a 34 per cent share.''

According to Mr. Dube, the passenger car market is estimated to cross one million units in the current fiscal. To date, Tata Motors has put 7.80 lakh cars on the road with Indica totaling 3.70 lakh units, more than 50,000 Indigos, 2.70 lakh Sumos and more than 33,000 Safaris.

While the earlier launched estate models by other companies have not fared well, Mr. Dube felt the Marina would succeed "because the earlier offerings were from parent brands which were not successful themselves. Also, the price premium was not appealing to the consumer and they had only offered petrol versions.''

"That is also the reason why as compared to other brands, our goals are modest. At the floor level, we would like to sell between 4,000 and 6,000 units of the Indigo Marina annually,'' said Mr. Dube. "Although we will attempt to grow as quickly as possible, it must be realised that of the other estates launched, the maximum that was reached was only 250 units a month.''

Dr. Sumantran also said the company was in the process of ramping up capacity and from the current level of 450-500 units a day, by the end of the current fiscal, the capacity would be increased by about 50 per cent.

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