Ten things Tata should do to turn into a global manufacturer

Tata has long been a major player defining the Indian car market. Currently the second largest car maker including trucks, TATA has worked hard to make the Middle class Indian mobile with the Nano and the Indica. But more than two decades of experience has not helped TATA reach the mantle of a global carmaker apart from the Jaguar Land Rover acquisition. Here are some important changes the company needs to focus on to appeal to a wider audience.

1.  Better Engine Platform Utilization: Over the years Tata has developed a lot of engines in both Petrol and Diesel configuration. To add to the range for competing better in the market Tata has also sought Fiat's help (Fiat India is a 50:50 venture) for holding a wider range of engines and gearboxes.  Including Jaguar, Land Rover and Fiat acquisition Tata at the moment has

Tata Indica/Indigo/XL/Marina Platform
Tata Vista/Manza platform
Tata Nano/Pixel/MagicIris/ Ace Platform
Tata Safari/ Aria/ Grande/ Xenon platform
Tata Sumo/TL platform
Tata Winger platform ( based on Renault Trafic design)
Tata Venture platform
Jaguar XJ
Jaguar XF (Ford platform)
Jaguar XK
Land Rover Defender
Land Rover FreeLander (Ford Platform)
Land Rover Discovery/ Sport platform
Land Rover Evoque paltform
Range Rover Platform
Fiat Linea/ Grande Punto Platform
Fiat Palio Stile platform
Fiat 500 platform

In Total Tata has 18 platforms in its kitty to maintain including the luxury brands and the fiat venture. While major car makers today are cutting down on platforms to increase the margin, Tata has an huge number of platforms at its hand. The company needs to reduce the platforms for a better capacity utilization and economies of scale. Also more car designs such as a coupe and convertible are needed too.

The current generation Sumo/ Spacio has been outdated and is being outsold by competition. Just like VW uses the same platform for VW, Skoda and AUDI vehicles Tata can utilize Land Rover platforms for its Utility vehicles including the Safari, Grande, Aria and other vehicles. The upside for Land Rover will be the economies of scale helping profitability and increased margins while helping Tata minimize the build quality issues, uneven panels and ergonomics and low brand image.  The defender platform is apt for Tata Sumo, Spacio, venture and winger models. The Freelander will make a nice platform for Xenon pickup and Grande. Finally the Safari and Aria can be based on the Discovery Platform. This will help the company erase its biggest weakness which is the public perception. Here the point is not to kill the platform the merge two platforms for a more economic and competitive single platform.

A similar exercise needs to be undertaken by TaTa by where the Vista/ Manza platform needs to be slowly outsourced on the Fiat Linea/ Punto platform . Fiat is having a hard time making sales targets. Sharing more than engine and gearbox will help both the companies just like the Land Rover Tata situation where economies of scale help in profit margins. Tata already has a lot of engines too.

4.4 Diesel V8 (Land Rover)
3.0 Diesel V6 (jaguar/ Land Rover)
3.0 Disel (Sumo, Safari)
2.7 Diesel V6 (Jaguar/ Land Rover)
2.2 Diesel (Land Rover)
2.2 Diesel (Grande, Aria, Safari, Xenon)

2.0 Diesel (winger, Sumo, Safari, TL)
1.4 Diesel Dicor (Venture, Indica, Vista,Marina, Indigo, XL, venture, )
1.3 Multijet (Vista, Manza, Fiat cars)
.6diesel (Iris, nano, Pixel)



.6 petrol (Nano, pixel, Iris))
1.2 petrol (Indica)
1.2 Petrol (Fiat Cars)
1.4 Petrol (Indica, Marina, Indigo, XL)
1.4 petrol (Vista, Manza, Fiat cars)
2.0 Petrol (Land Rover)

2.1 petrol (safari)
3.2 Petrol I6 (Land Rover)
3.5 petrol (Silhoutte)
4.2 Petrol V8 (Jaguar)
5.0 Petrol V8 (Jaguar/ Land Rover)


2. A stronger and sharper brand image: Tata is looked at more like a utilatarian car maker. More individual buyer marketing for Xenon and TL (Thar and Gateway for example)is necessary. The products do not show on the Tata Motors website. Grande MKII also needs to be provided with more features and a better image so that it can fight with Scorpio while the new Safari Merlin replacement can take the fight to the new Scorpios premium car. This will also aid in pulling Aria at a higher price segment. Pulling Grande MKII up the price ladder will also create a space for pitting Winger platinum againast Innova and Xylo and Tavera.

3. An easy to use website: Internet has fast caught on as a medium which provides immense information for car buyers. Tata Motors will not generate any business with a better website but it sure helps in providing a lot of information. Loads of models are not provided and information is scarce too. It also helps to include Merchandise (watches, sunglasses and pen, Mobile phone) to be retailed on the website. The merchandise products can be Tata brands itself such as Titan watches, Fastrack sunglasses etc.

4. Choice of alternative fuels: With the corruption catching up in petrol companies in India, prices have risen explicitly even though quality is still lacking. In such a scenario, buyers are fast looking at the alternatives. Diesel is one field where Tata Motors has a strong presence. But the company needs to catch up with CNG LPG options fast. Brands like Maruti and Chevrolet have provided their complete line ups with CNG and LPG options to cater to the increasing demand for non petrol vehicles.

 Also Mahinra and other international care makers are betting high on electricity as the alternative source. Tata needs to prepare for the onslaught. For those who are not aware Tata Motors has put in enormous R&D for oneCAT and has also succesfully prepared electric Indica and Ace models in the past. Tata has also bought Miljøbil Grenland/Innovasjon which is an alternative energy company for the same. But any updates are yet to be made public by the company. Succesfuly prototypes of Tata Vista and Nano have also be caught on test grounds.

But the most important addition would be of a 650cc two cylinder or a 975cc three cylinder diesel motor for use in Tata Nano and Tata Indica. Chevrolet has succesfully pulled this feat off in the latest Chevrolet Beat Diesel.

 5. Automatic Transmission: Fact: No Indian Hatchback on sale today has a diesel automatic option. Mahindra was quick to develop an Automatic option for its Scorpio diesel. Maruti  and Hyundai have been offering automatic transmission in their A-Star and I-10 hatchbacks. This makes Tata only car maker in the top five domestic car makers to not have an automatic transmission. With increasingly congested traffic situations an Automatic Manza against Honda City/ Verna/ Vento/ Fiesta will help bring customers to the Tata showroom and sell more cars.Not to forget that an Automatic Tata Vista will be the only car in the market in the diesel segment. While Jaguar Land Rover cars have automatic transmissions, Tata can also source automatic transmission from Fiat just like they sourced the manual transmission for Tata Vista.

6. Tata Customization programme: With increasing awareness and competition in the market, carmakers offer more and more models to cater to a wider audience. While custom car packaging has caught on outside the country, this concept is yet to make it mainstream in India. Mahindra for starters has begun providing customer with such custom vehicles. Volkswagen also provided a similar custom programme for its Polo hatchback on launch. I remember how on my purchase HM-Mitsubishi had offered me to provide wth a car in my colour with my choice of upgrades in three weeks. The same confusion was taken care of by the dealer when I wanted my Basic Honda Jazz to be kitted with aluminum wheels over steel wheels. I still missed out on the USB port for the audio. In addition engine upgrade options should also be provided. Tata Motors has a common engine platform for most cars. Selling engine upgrade spares via dealerships will provide Tata with a better brand image through spare availability and let users decide what engine configuration they are interested in. A 1.4 Tata Indica with DOHC head from the XL family can take the fight to Polo and Fabia in the 100bhp hot hatch game.

7. Technology upgrade- Tata cars while growing leaps and bounds in quality still leave a lot to be desired in features across the range. Most car makers today have provided ABS, EBD and Airbags across the range. In comparison Tata has these features only in Safari, Aria, Manza and Vista.Those who have demoed the 'My tata connect technology' will also agree that buyers will be willing to pay for 40K premium even in the most basic of cars like the Tata Nano. Connectivity is the buzz word in the markets today and even a fledgling car maker like Saab (just entered bankruptcy) has shifted to Android UI for its cars. Connectivity and communications integration in cars will lead to much efficient transition when the electric car wave hits the market in the near future.

8. Efficient capacity utilization: Tata motors has found it tough to increase the sales compared to market leaders Maruti and Hyundai. This has also led to plant efficiency falling to below 70%. Tata motors is already exporting to Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Spain, Italy, Poland, Turkey and the United Kingdom but its major presence is still found on the Indian subcontinent namely India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. It is an excellent opportunity to dump the slow moving stock in the international markets for competitive prices joinyl with some strong marketing and promotions. This will lead to Tata building a strong customer base worldwide and keep the plant efficiency above 80-90%.

9. Enter Rally Racing: At a time when Bajaj was selling Pulsar unchecked by competition TVS brought its Apache face to face and has changed the game. Customers are now buying TVS  motors Apache motorcycle as much as the Pulsar. This was made possible by TVS motors racing team which followed the motto 'race on Sunday, sell on Monday.' This is not the first time a car maker has taken to this slogan. Nissan, Ford, BMW, GM, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Subaru and many other car makers have followed the practice in history. It is a known fact that while not every customer buys a car to race, racing pumps adrenaline into everybody's minds. Hence racier looking cars always catch more fancy. A successful sales strategy by HM with the Lancer in the late 1990's had given the company so much leverage, it was one of the best selling cars. Tata need not go outside their stables for more success stories of racing and car selling. When Tata introduced the Tata Silhoutte sports car based on the Indica platform, enthusiasts all around the country thronged discussion forums to know more about it and buy if it was in their reach. Tata needs a strong presence in the INRC and other national rally championships where it stands a better chance to survive considering the cheaper spares and maintainence and stronger build.

10. Annual design refresh: The first Tata Indica appeared in the market on 1998. Indica V2, Vista and Vista V2 have followed in what has been the lifespan of 13 years. In comparison Suzuki's Alto (800/Alto/A-star) has seen more than 20 refreshes in 20 years. Ford's Fiesta has seen 10 refreshes in close to 7 years and Honda Civic has seen 4 refreshes in five years. With the sales spurts Tata has witnessed along with launching a refresh, it is quite evident that such tatics help the company keep the car abreast with competition even though it may only include an upholstry change, grille redesign and headlight changes. To make some buzz or the other in the market has become the necessity since the market is now crowded with more than 25 manufacturers.