I do not know what thread this post should have belonged to, but since I started crunching some numbers to guesstimate the pricing of Tata's next EV in the pipeline, I thought it apt to start a new thread, considering some of the exciting deductions that were arrived at.
Tiago.EV
Starting off with the Tiago.EV, priced (at launch) at ₹8,49,000 to ₹11,79,000, ex-showroom.
Difference in price between XT MR and XT LR (at launch)= ₹90000
Difference in battery capacity= 4.8 kWh
Leaving out the additional 14 hp & 4 NM of the LR (there are no feature variations in the variants), the cost of
10 kWh battery size came out to be
₹1,87,000 at launch.
And, if you needed a faster charger with it (7.2 kW instead of 3.3 kW), you needed to pay an additional ₹50,000.
(This amount still has not changed)
Now, the prices of the Tiago.EV have increased (+₹20000 for the XE and XT MR variants, and +₹24000 for the rest, which are LR variants) (as on Sept. 17, 2023). It currently is priced at ₹8,69,000 to ₹12,03,999, ex-showroom.
The cost of
10 kWh battery size comes out to be ~
₹1,98,000.
You may say that the initial pricing was just introductory, Tata must have been making a loss selling it at that time (conjecture). Fine, I'll agree with you. All hunky-dory till now? Good.
I smelled something funny, when now it seemed that the battery prices have increased, going by the increase in pricing, because nothing else explained the rise (was it not supposed to go down? You'll find out soon). I am not one to take increase in input costs as a reason, considering the 1998 platform it sits on, albeit modified, and no, the car was not peppered with more features to command such an increment.
Nexon.EV facelift launch
Needless to say, blown away by this car. Like how when Jeep gave its Compass a facelift with a complete interior overhaul, I can see, and appreciate, such an extensive revamp sure bought this aging car more time and firepower.
Now, Difference in price between MR and LR variants= ₹2 lakh
Difference in battery capacity= 10.5 kWh
What LR gets over the MR:
- Additional 16 hp
- 7.2 kW charger v/s 3.3 kW
- Rear Disks
- V2V and V2L capabilities
- Electronic Parking Brake
- Auto Hold
Remember, the fast charger costed ₹50,000 more? Deducting this amount from the difference, it now costs ₹1.5 lakh for 10.5 kWh capacity, or ~₹1,43,000 for 10kWh. I would go ahead and say it costs
<₹1,40,000 for
10 kWh, because the disk brakes alone cost more than ₹3000 on Boodmo.
Wait, did battery prices just drop ₹50,000 rupees for 10 kWh?
The absurdity has not ended, yet, pal.
Variant-to-variant comparison Tiago
Tiago.EV's XZ+ (without the fast charger) comes the closest to Tiago XZA+ Petrol automatic, in terms of features.
Tiago.EV XZ+ price= ₹11,54,000
Tiago XZA+ Petrol price= ₹7,69,000
You get 315 km range of the EV, and 665 km range of the petrol (ARAI numbers). You get 74 hp of the EV and 85 hp of the petrol. I get that numbers do not tell the whole story, and indeed the EV is better to drive
in the city, but so far, the numbers are not working in favour of the EV.
Price difference=
+50% Nexon facelift
Now, as best I could make of the variant spread of the EV and the Petrol powertrains, the differences and similarities of their names and their respective features.
Seriously, someone at Tata needs an earful for such creativity (no pun intended). Not even the brochures are alike! Similar variants: Empowered MR of the EV and Fearless+S DT of the Petrol.
Nexon.EV Empowered MR price= ₹17,84,000
Nexon Fearless+S DT Petrol price= ₹14,69,990
143 hp of the EV, and 118 hp of the petrol.
Better numbers for the EV? Surprised?
Price difference=
+22%
After this legwork comes the estimation part, which, frankly, at this point, is not the most interesting thing, is it?
Eh. Punch.EV estimate
I'm going to put it like this (crude numbers, mind you!):
Petrol automatic Base variants
Nexon=Punch +56%
Punch= Tiago +8%
Top variants
Nexon=Punch +53%
Punch= Tiago +30%
Nexon: ₹11,69,000 to ₹15,49,990
Punch: ₹7,49,000 to ₹10,09,900
Tiago: ₹6,94,900 to ₹7,79,900
Electric
Tata has little overlap between there petrol automatic models in terms of pricing, a narrow band between of ₹12,03,999 and ₹14,74,000 (i.e., ₹2,70,000) to price the EV, it is safe to assume some overlapping- at the bottom end, if Tata lazes out, and plonks Tiago.EV LR's drivetrain into it, and at the top end, if, again, if Tata lazes out, and plonks Nexon.EV MR's drivetrain into it.
Nexon Petrol automatic spread= ~₹3.8 lakhs
Tiago Petrol automatic spread= ~₹0.85 lakhs
Punch Petrol automatic spread= ~₹2.61 lakhs
Nexon.EV spread= ~₹5.2 lakhs
Tiago.EV spread= ~₹3.35 lakhs
Punch.EV spread ideally should be around ₹ 4.2 to ₹4.5 lakhs
Taking the overlapping and Tata's ambitious pricing (would hurt a little less if that new screen came in) in consideration, in my best guess, the Punch.EV would be priced at (no drumroll, please) ₹9.99/₹10.49 lakhs lakhs at the bottom end, and ₹14.29/₹14.99 lakhs at the other. Tata currently retails Punch in 4 variants- Pure, Adventure, Accomplished, and Creative. Going by the recent launch, most likely 'Pure' name would be dropped, and a new name for the top variant would be added
(suggestion at the end).
Points worthy of note - EVs are meant to be an ideal replacement for diesels, which were more economical and had more torque than their petrol counterparts. Diesel automatics, more so. Since most Diesel-manuals nowadays cost the same as petrol-automatics, and automatic transmissions cost ~₹1 lakh more than manuals in the ₹10-20 lakh segment, it makes more sense to go for a Nexon.EV than its diesel automatic right now. Seeing it this way, Tata EVs in this price bracket start to make more economical sense.
- The new Nexon.EV is pricier by ₹25,000 at the lower end. Considering this car took half-a-generational leap, this is a justifiable reason for the subsequent price increase.
- I see this as a move to obliterate any competition in this category (looking at you, Mahindra), whereas in the lower than 10 mil INR segment, Tata does not see any worthy competitor to necessitate a price decrease (MG and Citroen are niche players, anyway).
- Seeing the price disparity between battery capacities of Tiago.EV and Nexon.EV, it is safe to say that Tata is milking its customers in the lower segment. Tata should name the Punch.EV's top model Shameless, if it goes down this path.
- I would like to be wrong.