Tata Motors to roll out six new products in truck range
The Economic Times — November 20, 2007

After sluggish growth in the first half of this fiscal, Tata Motors has planned the biggest ever rollout of its heavy commercial vehicle range to rev up sales.

Tata Motors is in the process of rolling out half-a-dozen new products over the next couple of months. It will foray into the fast growing 49-tonne tractor-trailer segment by launching next generation trucks that will come from its fully-owned Korean subsidiary, Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles. These heavy duty vehicles will sport, for the first time in India, a 10-speed gear box and inverted bogey suspension.

A Tata Motors spokesperson said: "Based on customer feedback and market demand, we have added several new features on our products, the details of which cannot be disclosed yet. For example, our 31-tonne multi-axle truck range will come with a lift axle, that will be available in the domestic market for the first time. These new generation trucks will be launched in the span of four-six months across different segments."

Besides the new 31-tonne multi-axle truck (with lift axle), Tata Motors will launch a 9-tonner and a 25-tonne tipper truck, to cater to the needs of the fast-growing construction and real estate industry. It is also launching a new super turbo technology in its 25-tonner 160-PS truck range to enhance fuel efficiency.

"After comprehensive research and customer feedback, we are launching the new super turbo technology in the 25-tonne truck range that will allow 10% additional fuel efficiency," the spokesman said.

Commercial vehicle sales have been impacted by the high interest rate. The heavy trucks market slumped 11% to 1,16,472 units in the April-October period against 1,30,493 units sold last year. During the same period, Tata Motors' heavy commercial vehicle segment declined by 12% to 73,779 units from 83,789 last fiscal.

The company expects some turnaround in retail sales on the back of these new products as interest rates have stabilised and the infrastructure sector is throwing up huge demand in heavy equipment. "The new launches will help us net better sales in the second half of this fiscal and arrest the decline. These products will hit the market from next month and are expected to generate strong demand in the domestic market," said a senior executive of Tata Motors. The company will showcase its entire new product range at the upcoming Auto Expo in January 2008.