Mistry says Tata Motors working on market slide

Reassures shareholders that steps are being taken to regain market share in both cars and trucks

Shareholders of Tata Motors raised the alarming slide in car and truck market shares repeatedly at the company's 69th annual general meeting held here on Thursday.

Tata Motors' shareholders were disappointed that Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Mahindra & Mahindra had cruised past in all automobile segments created by the Mumbai-based company.

Cyrus Mistry in his second appearance as chairman of Tata Motors tried to reassure shareholders that steps were being taken to regain market share in both cars and trucks.

"A lot of work needs to be done. This year is also going to be challenging. The last couple of years we saw the highest intensity of launches from the competition. Tata Motors had to go through a process of transformation. We have to bring up the game up to a certain level," Mistry said.

Shareholders pointed out that Tata Motors' Sierra, Safari, Indica, Nano, Ace and the 407 truck were all innovative products for the Indian automobile industry. However, without adequate marketing, the competition had raced past Tata Motors. The company's share of the car market has dropped below seven per cent and it has 53 per cent of the truck market.

Mistry added the launch of Zest and Bolt, a sedan and a hatchback, in August was aimed at reclaiming some of the lost share. There will be launches in the truck and bus segments too.

Despite the slowdown, Tata Motors will not reduce expenditure on research and development. Mistry said the company would spend around Rs 3,500 crore on research this year.

Highlighting the need to reduce the number of Tata Motors' subsidiaries, Mistry said, "I agree that we should rationalise and take stock of the number of subsidiaries we have. These are companies that were set up for different reasons. We need to revisit them."