Tata Motors' passenger unit eyes 3% growth in market share

Tata Motors on Tuesday said its passenger vehicle unit intends to increase market share by 3 percent to 15 percent. "Our intention is to gain market share and move closer to where we were last year. Market share last year dropped down to around 12 percent, we intend to grow that by 2-3 percent to reach 14 or 15 percent," Tata Motors president (passenger vehicle business unit) Ranjit Yadav told reporters on the sidelines of a company event in Bangalore.

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Indicating that next couple of quarters are likely to be weak he said the company's market growth would be flat. "We have seen six to seven months of decline, these things can turnaround but next couple of quarters is going to be weak, so I would expect it to be flat to declining," he added.

Declining to give guidance on Tata Nano production, he said, "Our manufacturing is matching the requirement. We saw weakness in the market very early and have made significant correction in stocks for our channel partners and dealers, so our actual sales are higher than reported."

Trying hard to improve its customer service initiatives, Tata Motors said it is revamping its sales outlets across the country and will have 150 revamped outlets by the end of this year.

Tata Motors had reported a 23.37-percent decline in total vehicle sales in May, at 49,304 units. Its total passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market stood at 11,134 units during the month, down 45.69 percent from 20,503 units in the same month last year.

Earlier at the event, the company felicitated Srikarunya Subrahmanyam, a Bangalore-based motoring enthusiast and his team, for entering the Guinness World Records in the presence of Formula One motor racing driver, Narain Karthikeyan.

Subrahmanyam was feted for accomplishing the longest journey of 10,218 km in a Tata Nano in 10 days, breaking the current record of 8046.74 km.

A book 'Atop the World' written and edited by Thomas Chacko was also unveiled at the event. Chacko is a Kochi-based, 63-year old motoring enthusiast, who completed a 78-day long national expedition in a Tata Nano, covering 26,500 km across the length and breadth of the country.