In order to gain a strong foothold in the rural market, Tata Motors is planning a massive network expansion to 1500 outlets across the country.
Tata Motors under its HORIZONEXT program is not only focusing on their product portfolio but also after sales service, creating a fresh brand identity and dealership network across the country. In a bid to reach amongst the top three car brands in India, Tata Motors has an aggressive network expansion plan. The Indian automaker wants to focus on rural markets and reach out to as many places as possible. If implemented in the right way, it will be the biggest expansion by a passenger vehicle maker in the country so far.
Currently, Tata Motors has around 460 outlets pan India and in the next three years they are aiming to expand their network three-fold to 1500 outlets. This is a crucial move by Tata Motors as we all know that a wide network of sales and service helps considerably in higher volumes and brand reliability (read Maruti Suzuki). Mayank Pareek, the new Tata Motors president of passenger vehicle division has an experience of around 20 years with Maruti Suzuki and who would have better knowhow than him of having a huge network across the country.
Mayank Pareek has made tremendous contribution in the transformation of Maruti’s rural sales. With similar strategies and an aggressive product onslaught planned by Tata Motors, we won’t be surprised to see the Indian carmaker competing against the top three. Pareek believes that having a strong foothold in the rural market is crucial because it insulates the company from slowdown as some segments in India are always growing.
After the launch of the Tata Zest and Bolt, Tata Motors is preparing the Kite hatchback and sedan to be positioned below the latest offerings. They are also working on several variants and a heavily revised version of the Tata Nano that could do well in the rural market. To clear its taxi image for private vehicle buyers, Tata Motors won’t be registering all its future products as taxi.
Source – Economic Times
