Cynthia Rodrigues

By keeping customer needs in focus, Tata Motors' commercial vehicles business unit has scripted an automobile revolution that has secured triumph for the company and recognition for the country

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A young nation took the road to indigenous automobile mobility when Tata Motors (then known as the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company, or Telco) launched its first vehicle. That revolution, which got rolling in 1954, established the company's reputation as the dominant force behind the movement of goods and people in India.

The seeds of this success were sown when Telco entered into a technical and financial collaboration with Daimler-Benz AG (now DaimlerChrysler) to launch the Tata Mercedes Benz. This was the first acquaintance that Indians had with an Indian vehicle manufacturing company. The collaboration with Daimler-Benz AG ended in 1969, but Telco had by then built up enough steam to power forward on its own.

That Telco could sustain its quality and assure itself of the confidence of its customers was in no small part due to the efforts of vision of Sumant Moolgaonkar, the company's then managing director, and the Tata Group's late chairman, JRD Tata. "These leaders," says Ravi Kant, executive director, commercial vehicles business unit (CVBU), Tata Motors, "were responsible for consciously or unconsciously contributing towards the brand perception as it is today. When [current Tata Group chairman] Mr Ratan Tata conceived the idea for a passenger car, he followed the same philosophy." These men gave a face to the brand and made it synonymous with reliability, durability and consideration towards customers.

Says Mr Kant, "What worked in our favour was our lineage both from the Tata side, which gave us our work ethic and values, and the Mercedes side, which taught us technical excellence. This combination was strong and potent and helped us create reliable and hardy vehicles that could take a lot of abuse." The fact that Tata Motors looked after its customers also worked in its favour. Even if there were shortages in the market, Tata Motors did not take undue advantage by hiking prices. This stance, coupled with technical and service excellence, built immense value for the brand.

The manufacturing of the Tata Mercedes Benz required the company to make substantial investments in terms of setting up a plant at Jamshedpur. "In those days we were not allowed to import," explains Mr Kant. "We had to resort to indigenisation and localisation to keep costs down." But the efforts paid off and fully justified the claim made in an early advertisement for CVBU products: "Not adapted for Indian conditions; designed for Indian conditions."

Over the next 50 years, the brand that epitomised movement and progress in this country itself embarked on a journey of evolution and learning. Imbued with the pioneering spirit and driven by the pursuit of automotive excellence, Tata Motors forged a reputation that made it India's largest and one of the world's top five automobile manufacturing companies.

Along the way, the CVBU stable introduced a range of products and made additions and improvements to a host of others. The appreciation that these launches and improvements were met with validated the company's focus on customer satisfaction. Often the fame and goodwill transcended mere geographical boundaries.

Mr Kant has an interesting story about how far the company's fame has reached. "In Senegal, West Africa, we helped set up a bus body-making company two years ago. It was inaugurated by the president of Senegal in the presence of the heads of state of five other countries and numerous other people. One of the visiting presidents commended the president of Senegal for going with the Tatas. He said, 'About 10 years ago, we bought some buses from a western manufacturer and some from Tata. More than 75 per cent of the buses of the western brand stopped working soon after, whereas 75 per cent of the buses of the Tata brand are still working.'" The African head of state's acknowledgement of the reliability of Tata-branded buses was an endorsement of the claims that the early advertisement had made.

It was a reputation forged over time. When the Japanese made inroads into the Indian market, Tata Motors met the challenge by building Indian products for uniquely Indian conditions. Simultaneously, the quality of the new light commercial vehicle (LCV) and the appreciation of the yen worked in CVBU's favour. "Our LCVs became bestsellers," says Mr Kant. "From having created a strong position in the medium commercial vehicle segment, we also created a strong position in the LCV segment." In time the range was expanded.

Consumer perception kept pace with the changes. Numerous surveys indicated that Tata was seen as one of the most valuable brands in the country, symbolising trust, reliability and national pride. The positive vibrations of that goodwill rubbed off on Tata Motors. As Kant says, "There were a large number of moving objects on the roads made by Tatas. Tata Motors became the visible manifestation of the Group, the biggest generator of brand awareness."

However, while the older generation appreciated the brand and all it represented, the same could not be said of younger people. Youngsters didn't see the brand as contemporary. Mr Kant says, "They seemed to say that things were not changing or that they were changing very slowly. They wanted to see changes in the brand in terms of looks and sophistication."

CVBU worked hard over its promotion initiatives in an attempt to get closer to its transporters and to strengthen people's perception of the brand. It organised road shows to interact with customers, dealers and financiers, and held training programmes for drivers and mechanics. Most importantly, the custodians of the brand took to heart the lesson that they were not merely in the business of selling trucks; their calling was to present a transport solution. Mr Kant affirms, "What we are selling is not a physical product, but a business. It is a livelihood for someone."

That is why CVBU takes particular care to ensure that it always has its ear to the ground and is able to help its customers with a product and service that exceeds their expectations and ensures lifelong loyalty. Suggestions from consumers became the basis for the immensely successful Tata 207 DI, a vehicle which became a bestseller. "In two years," says Mr Kant, "we moved from having a 4 to 5 per cent share to earning a 38 per cent share. The recent launch of the mini-truck ACE reinforces this. It epitomises all that the customer is looking for — looks, comfort, safety and, of course, profits!"

This attitude helped it to stand at the vanguard of technological advancements. Sustained product innovation, commitment to research and development and to the safety and convenience of its customers brought in the contemporary element. It also induced a sense of confidence and familiarity in the market about a brand that had 50 years of automotive excellence to its credit.

Today seven out of every ten trucks on Indian roads sport the trusted Tata name. No matter what the company has called itself, Telco, Tata Engineering or Tata Motors, its CVBU has been at the forefront of a movement that has set a whole nation on the move.

Uploaded on October 13, 2005