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Committed to the rapid electrification of mobility, Tata Motors has launched an extension to its bestselling EV in the personal mobility segment - the new Nexon EV MAX - at an attractive starting price of Rs 4.649 million for 7.2 kW charging option in Nepal. Shailesh Chandra, managing director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd, who was in town for the launch event, discussed the vision of the company, challenges, opportunities and the way forward with Bal Krishna Sah of The Himalayan Times. Excerpts:
This is probably your first official visit to Nepal from Tata Motors. Could you please share the purpose of your visit?
Over the last few years, we have been seeing quite a few developments in Nepal and it is very clear that Tata Motors has a deep interest in this market. For instance, even as the market declined by 60 per cent last year, Tata Motors' sales grew by 30 per cent. And that has to do with a lot of products that we have launched in Nepal over the last few years, which have been seen as very aspirational products. We have been seeing a similar kind of transformation in India also. And the Nepali market and the customers are very well accepting of the products.
Moreover, we have witnessed a steep growth of electric vehicles in the market. And with this steep growth, we have the most practical but aspirational portfolio. Thus, Nexon EV is becoming pretty much synonymous with the electric vehicle market in Nepal, as is the case in India.
But we want to go beyond just bringing aspirational products and are therefore also building the entire ecosystem around it. In terms of charging infrastructure, you can see learning centres being set up here. So, our commitment to this market is very high.
And my visit is nothing but a reflection of the growing importance of this market and the team, Sipradi, which is a longterm partner for us. So it was also to give acknowledgement to the long-term commitment that we have with our long-term partner.
What is the vision for Tata Motors' EV business in Nepal?
I think we are clearly seeing that Nepal is one of the countries where customers have quickly adopted a new technology, which is quite rare even in many developed countries. This means that the customers here are very discernible - they are ready to experiment with new technology.
We have witnessed a very similar trend among young customers in India. And therefore, I think that this is a market where the products we have in our portfolio meet the requirements of the customer - in terms of the need, affordability, price point, body style, etcetera. And especially when it comes to EVs, I think it is about bringing a range of products in each and every segment at different price points, different body styles, different range options, so that customers have a wider choice of electric vehicles in the Nepali market.
And more importantly, it is our commitment that wherever we work on electrification, we also build the entire ecosystem. We already have 15 service points just for electric vehicles. We have a battery repair centre here, which many states in India still don't have. We have one central charging battery repair centre.
Therefore, we are developing the entire ecosystem and network also. And that's our vision.
How has the response been to the TIGOR EV and Nexon EV Prime in Nepal?
As I mentioned earlier, Nexon EV is pretty much synonymous with the EV market here. If I'm not wrong, our EV market share in Nepal with the two products combined is nearly 74 per cent. And Nexon EV itself would be about 65 per cent of the electric vehicle market here. At the same time, TIGOR EV, which got launched later, has also been doing well. So both products have been doing very well.
What is the company's approach to innovation and new product development? And what steps are being taken to stay ahead of competitors in the industry?
You know, one big differentiation as far as Tata Motors is concerned, as far as innovation is concerned, especially in the electrification space, is that they bring products which are contextual to the market and what the customers are buying. We have brought products which are the right balance of price, feature, range, exactly hitting the sweet spot of what a customer needs.
So our innovation starts from the voice of the customer. This is at the centre and this is what helps us develop the range of vehicles that we have. To ensure that when we bring these products that meet the customer's requirement, that is number one.
Number two, beyond electrification there are many other disruptions and mega trends that we are seeing in the automotive space - whether it is a connected car, or an autonomous car. And those are the innovations that are either already there in our vehicles or will be incorporated in the future. So, our source of innovation is both the requirement of the market and the customers.
Like every industry, the auto industry also faced different challenges, one being the semiconductor crisis and Tata Motors has been one of the very few companies to steer through it and emerge stronger. How did you manage to overcome the crisis?
All of us were in a situation where semiconductors were not available. I'd say we moved with greater agility as a company. Especially in the area of innovation, I'd say we tried to see if there were opportunities to optimise the number of semiconductors that we use in those critical components. In India, we co-located our engineering and supply team and took fast decisions on such kinds of innovations, doing fast validation.
That was one source of bringing down the requirement itself of semiconductors without compromising on the functionality.
At the same time, we were very agile to explore through open markets, where semiconductors are available and we used to take those calls very quickly in close coordination with semiconductor suppliers as well as our T1 suppliers.
So, there have been a host of actions that we took to really deal with this crisis. The crisis was quite intense in the first half of last financial year, but we ensured that whichever markets we are present in did not suffer.
We have been getting hints about Tata Motors expanding to global markets other than Nepal. What are your plans on expanding to the international market?
While I can't disclose all the details, there is definitely the intention to expand in a big way.
There was a time where we were handicapped to expand internationally, especially the developed markets which were one or two emission norms higher than us in the ICE (internal combustion engine) world. But with EVs coming, I do not think we have that handicap left.
The vehicles that we make, especially if you compare the Indian market where you have all the global players of the world, we rank number three, even number two at times. So, if we are intensely and successfully competing in our home market, there is no reason why we would not go out, especially in the EV world. We have seen many developed countries announcing plans of phasing out ICE vehicles.
So with a very strong electric vehicle portfolio and the innovation that we are bringing in that space, international business expansion is one of the key strategic levers for us going forward. But which countries are we going to go to? I think that you will have to wait for us to decide.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 11, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
