[aniketi]

Business Standard reports that the Tata Vista and the Tata Manza have been phased out of production in India, based on an interview with Girish Wagh, Senior Vice President of Programme Planning and Management for passenger cars at Tata Motors. According to SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers), not a single unit of the Manza and the Indigo (in the personal car market) have been sold since July 2015.

The country’s fifth largest carmaker now has its entire portfolio of family vehicles overhauled with new products, as the Tata Indica and the Indigo eCS are now available only for commercial applications. The Indica is offered in diesel and CNG variants. Even the older generation Tata Nano has not been on sale since late-2014.

The company now plans to plug gaps in its passenger car portfolio and triple its dealership network across the country in four years time. Mayank Pareek, Tata Motors’ President of passenger vehicle business unit, recently mentioned that the company will launch two new products every year till 2020. The next product to be launched is the Tata Zica which will be followed by its compact sedan version, the Tata Nexon compact crossover and the Tata Hexa.

Source: http://indianautosblog.com/2015/12/t...ntinued-205602

I guess this is the right decision they have taken. But I am surprised that old Indica and Indigo CS are still selling. They should have stopped Indica instead of Vista. It is much better than older Indica. Manza was dead duck for last few months, so we can understand about it.

[narayan]

Surprised because I thought Tata Motors wanted to use the Vista ( and possibly even Manza ) for the growing fleet segment. The Indica platform is really ageing now and many cabbies also don't want to go for them unless they are on a tight budget. As aspiration levels rise, Tata Motors will be left with nothing to offer in the fleet segment - or maybe this is a conscious move to slowly exit the fleet segment altogether ?

[turboturtle]

Originally Posted by narayan

Surprised because I thought Tata Motors wanted to use the Vista ( and possibly even Manza ) for the growing fleet segment. The Indica platform is really ageing now and many cabbies also don't want to go for them unless they are on a tight budget. As aspiration levels rise, Tata Motors will be left with nothing to offer in the fleet segment - or maybe this is a conscious move to slowly exit the fleet segment altogether ?

+1 - The growing fleet counts might not be doing TML any good for their branding / image for prospective retail buyers. Besides, Vista is better than the Indica in terms of space and refinement IMO. They should've phased out the Indica and made Vista the next fleet option. While Zest / Bolt / Zica / Zica's CS version cater to the private / retail segment, Vista could've catered to the taxi segment. Manza & Indigo are a different matter altogether - can't recall the last time I saw a new one on the roads.

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by narayan

Surprised because I thought Tata Motors wanted to use the Vista ( and possibly even Manza ) for the growing fleet segment. The Indica platform is really ageing now and many cabbies also don't want to go for them unless they are on a tight budget. As aspiration levels rise, Tata Motors will be left with nothing to offer in the fleet segment - or maybe this is a conscious move to slowly exit the fleet segment altogether ?

Vista and Manza were once their premium cars exclusively for private buyers. Tata has always catered to the lowet spectrum of fleet market. For the higher budget buyers there is always Toyota. I think its a good move to retain Indica for cab market. Any doubts please refer last few months sales data.

[mayank0782]

That's a good move IMHO.

They needed to clean up their portfolio so that the focus can be on the products where they exactly want it to be.

I get a feeling that TATA is the most talked about manufactured currently in the Forum.

[dhanushs]

From a business perspective, I think, just to improve the brand image, a car will not be withdrawn from the fleet segment. Especially if it sells numbers in that segment and also since its proven that, if you build cars properly, fleet segment doesnt matter (eg: Dezire, Etios, Logan)

[deep_bang]

Thats indeed a surprise. But thinking a little more - keeping Vista alive would mean it would satisfy most of the taxi fleet, but ALSO keep the Indica ghost alive - meaning, the traditional Tata image (read Indica) would continue.

Maybe - just maybe, Tata is hoping to keep flogging the Indica, hoping people would slowly leave it for the better newer cars from the stable (Zest, Zica etc).

[StepUP!]

It's a wise decision IMO. Discontinuing Vista and Manza instead of Indica makes sense due to their uncanny resemblance to Bolt and Zest in terms of looks. These are important products for Tata which should be prioritized over others.

[mrbaddy]

I do see quite a bit of new Indica's on T/R plates always on the Hyderabad roads, but never seen a new Vista/Manza in recent times. So I think the move makes sense.

Indica/Vista combo is doing consistent 3000 numbers for the last few months based on the monthly sales analysis. Based on this report, it looks like most of those sales are coming from Indica for the last six months. It's a sensible move to retain Indica and keep churning those 3K numbers.

Also whenever I see a Silver Bolt at a distance, I struggle hard to identify whether it is a Vista or Bolt till I see the blackened C-Pillar of Bolt. Other colors are slightly better identifiable. Keeping new Vista off the roads will also make Bolt stand-out as well.

With Zica launching soon and it being nowhere similar to Indica, TATA can continue Indica/Indigo as long as they are doing the numbers. And some of the people visiting the showrooms for Zica may potentially upgrade to Bolt and increase its numbers as well.

OT: I feel sad for TATA Manza. My colleague has this excellent all-rounder. TATA should bring back this in a modern avatar in 2-3 years after setting up their base in the sub-4m vehicles which seems to be their focus now.

And finally TATA, please give us a notchback for the TATA Sway. The segment needs some differentiation and considering the mostly positive reviews so far for Zica, Sway could do well with this differentiation.

[libranof1987]

Good move, yes. But unless they consciously want to move out the taxi segment, discontinuing Vista and Manza will leave them no where. And that might not be a good thing.

From a perception standpoint, I think Tata has driven the point home about their cars being more commonly used as taxis. Even if they're exiting the taxi segment now, it'll take a while to change that image.

If they're doing this to completely course-correct and bring about a fresh generation of cars, they'd be willingly giving up a good chunk of their revenue they earned from taxi aspirants.

Manufacturers such as Maruti are encouraging taxi versions of their cars; so if they have new-age products on offer, they may be able to balance both retail and commercial.

Have to wait and watch how this plays out!

[sgiitk]

Good. No point in continuing with old and obsolescent products. Much better than our Inverted Bathtubs (aka Ambassador).

[sai_ace]

A good move to counter losses but feel sad for a genuinely underrated product - Manza. As an owner of the Manza, I still get a smile whenever I sit in that car. I compare it to my Tjet and boy the manza still impresses with its refinement, space and abuse friendly nature. Wonderful car, quirky disjointed design, practical to the boot, stable mature ride and a great engine. I wish Tata came out with a modern designed sedan with the hallmarks of the manza -Space, stability and solid mechanicals.

[2000rpm]

I think its a correct move. My guess is, Indica would be significantly more profitable than the Vista for Tata. Also this is an indication that Zica will be priced around the current Vista.

[Visran]

I wonder how their fleet sales team will work around selling cars to fleet owners now(which is currently bringing in some numbers to Tata's sales chart).

Am pretty sure that initially they would not allow Zica to be sold to taxi market, thought they could still hold on to Vista specifically for the fleet crowd.

[1.2TSI7DSG]

Sad to see two stalwarts from the Tata stable laid to rest.

I have an Indigo Manza QJ Aura+ which has done 1.2l kms over 5.5 years.
We had bought it at 7.83 in 2010; it was the most VFM sedan at the time.
We are now looking for an upgrade (only because of the continuous niggles and the sudden surge in maintenance cost post 1.2l kms) but nothing comes close to even matching the back seat space and the comfort.


May the two RUST IN PEACE