In an interview with DNA, Mr Karl-Heinz Servos, project director-joint projects at Tata motors spoke about the future development plans of the company and how Tata Motors is going to catch the nation in surprise with its new products. Mr Karl has earlier worked with automobile giants like Volkswagen, Audi and BMW and has just recently completed one year with Tata Motors. One of the key questions asked was about the work environment and the engineers in Tata Motors and how it was elsewhere. The reply being there is lot of creativity in the Indian minds and work is done with dedication.
“We will surprise the nation in future, in the next 3-5 years. At the moment, we are loading and at one point we will shoot. Car industry is not business of today or tomorrow. In this industry everything takes time, usually 2-3 years,” Mr Karl-Heinz Servos, said.
India is a little behind compared to German companies in terms of technology and it is this limitation which must be overcome to design and develop world class products. But there is of lot of potential citing that Tata Motors designed and developed the Nano. Mr. Karl has been closely working on the development of future products and has also worked on the Safari Storme. He claims that the Storme has reduced body-roll and a lot refinement has gone into the new SUV. He ensures the off-roader will give a good ride with a good combination of comfort and dynamics. The Storme is also lighter than the previous Safari and has an amazing turning radius.
His swift reply on comparing the Storme with the XUV500 was “XUV is flashy and for young kids, Storme is for people who are well settled in life and know what they are doing,”
On being asked about the future focus of the company he replied saying the Indian market itself is very well focused on the Utility vehicle market and so will Tata Motors. They are in an observing phase and are understanding the UV market and will be ready when the trend starts to kick in. Tata Motors currently have the Sumo and the Safari in the UV market and post the launch of the Storme their focus is now on making the Sumo much better. Tata Motors and Mahindra are close to the market as compared to the international companies and that is an added advantage in the Utility vehicle market for them.
Tata Motors will have a lot to offer in terms of product design and technology in the coming future. They also have the advantage of sharing the knowledge platform of the Jaguar Land Rover team. Concluding this interview he left everyone thinking. He expressed the company’s aggressive future plans for the Indian market. We had earlier heard about Tata Motors completely changing their passenger car line-up and would do away with their current range of cars. Maybe Tata Motors has realized that their passenger cars don’t work well on the design front and a refreshed start is necessary. These words from Mr Karl speak confidence and portraits Tata’s vision for the future India.
Source – DNA
