Ratan Tata praises rival Mahindra, rues Tata Motors' sales

Ratan Tata is set to retire as the chairman of the Tata Group in December this year. After he addressed the company’s shareholders at the annual general meeting yesterday, it was clear that there would be no better send-off for him than Tata Motors cementing their position above close rival Mahindra & Mahindra in the domestic auto market.

Mr. Tata stated “(I have) great respect for what Mahindra & Mahindra has been able to do. I have certain degree of sadness and shame that we have let that happen. I think we have a great deal of introspection to do as to why, Mahindra should be ahead of us, than us catching up.”

The rivals have been neck to neck in the recent past. The difference in their passenger car sales figures in the first quarter of the current fiscal was negligible; Tata Motors shipped 60,405 units against M&M’s 59,902. For the month of June, M&M took third position outselling Tata Motors by more than 2,000 units.

The reason for M&M’s recent success over Tata Motors can be attributed to Mahindra's dominance in the UV segment with the Bolero, Scorpio and XUV500. Tata’s ageing Safari and Sumo have been no match for them. In addition, Tata’s sedans and hatchbacks have performed below par in several months, clearly feeling the heat from newer competition. Much was expected from the Nano, but it's volumes have been disappointing. 

In his address, Ratan Tata has also recognised the need to focus on achieving volumes across all vehicle segments. He added that his dream project Nano wouldn’t succeed unless the right volumes are delivered. Referring to Tata subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) who has been contributing healthily to Tata Motors, he said that JLR would be competing more fiercely with the trio of German carmakers in India’s fast-growing luxury car segment, by introducing compact cars.