)
Speaking to reporters after launching Bolt, a premium hatchback in Chennai today, Mayank Pareek, president - passenger vehicles business unit, Tata Motors Ltd said that "We will not earmark or register any of our few products (cars) as taxi."
It may be noted, of the total sales of its company cars - Indica and compact sedan Indigo -around 30-35 per cent were registered as taxis.
Tata Motors said that it would launch two cars every year for the next five years.
"We see opportunities in different areas and we will be presented in every segment," said Pareek, without disclosing which are the segments the company will foray in the immediate future.
All the products will be developed by the development teams in England, Italy and India (Pune) and all the products will be global products and quality, said Pareek, adding that the company would focus mainly on the domestic market for now.
"We want to be one of the top three brands, when a customer goes to buy a new car," said Pareek, who joined Tata Motors around three months back from Maruti.
To support future sales growth Tata Motors is planning to increase its dealership network by three times from the current 460 in the next 3-5 years. Pareek ruled out leveraging Tata Motors commercial vehicle division's network, which is now spread over across the country.
"For a long time we were selling to fleet customers, and selling to them is very different from selling to individuals and families," said Pareek.
Pareek said response to the Bolt has been good. He claimed that in three weeks since opening bookings, the company got 50,000 enquiries, 10,000 test drives requests and 1,500 bookings.
