Tata Motors plans five launches next fiscal

In the last 14 months, Tata Motors and Fiat together have launched five products — Indigo CS, Sumo Grande, Palio Diesel, Indica Vista and Linea.

On Wednesday, the duo unveiled Xenon XT (cross terrain), a lifestyle four-door, 5-seater pickup.

For FY10, Tata and Fiat together have slated five more launches — Nano, Grande Punto, another vehicle which will be a cross between an SUV and MPV, a new Indigo and a yet-to-be-named Fiat car.

The idea behind these launches is to create a strong portfolio and spur an excitement in the market to stimulate demand.

Xenon XT has been priced at Rs 7.62 lakh for the 4X2 version and Rs 8.58 lakh for the 4X4 version. The car is already being retailed in Thailand, Algeria, Italy, Poland, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

Tata Motors has invested Rs 400 crore for the product, which is produced from its Pune plant.

Rajiv Dubey, president — passenger car business, said, “This product will be sold through 58 Tata passenger car dealerships across 39 countries.” 

So far, the company has exported around 6,000 units, he added.  Prakash Telang, executive director, commercial vehicle business, said the Pune plant will be also utilised for domestic production.

The plant has a capacity to produce 24, 000 units annually.  Tata Motors’ plant at South Africa, which was taken over from Nissan, will defer the production of pickups. The plant, in the first phase, will produce medium and heavy commercial vehicles. The change in gambit comes in the wake of the plant not performing as per the company’s expectations.