LIC hikes stake in Tata Motors to over 7 pc

State-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has hiked its stake in Tata Motors to over 7 per cent through various open market transactions.
LIC has increased its shareholding in the company from 4.91 per cent to 7.01 per cent through purchase of shares between January 8, 2013, and May 17, 2016, Tata Motors said in a regulatory filing.
Launching the Hexa, Pareek said, "With this SUV we
have taken a leap in bringing in the most advanced technologies and first-of-its-kind feature to the domestic marker, representing the change that is underway at Tata Motors. We are confident this package will be an instant hit in a highly popular but immensely competitive segment."

Butschek chipped in saying, "the Hexa marks another milestone for us in a firework of new product launches, addressing a larger part of the car market. The road to reposition us goes beyond products and involves pursuing new approaches, technologies, business models and partnerships to actively design the future of mobility across the country."
Claiming that the Hexa has notched up a two-month waiting already, Pareek said, "The pre-launch booking has surprised them as it has been much beyond expectation. Every day we have been getting 100s of bookings even before the price was announced."

Pareek said the Hexa is available for delivery from today at across 300 sales outlets across the country.

But citing company policy, he refused to quantify the number of pre-launch bookings. He just said "the pre-launch bookings are high four-digits."
Similarly, he declined to specifically divulge the money gone into developing the Hexa, saying, "On average we invest around Rs 4,000 crore into product development. Since most investment overlaps, it will be difficult to specifically quantify investments into one product."
Asked whether the company has secured the supply side, especially for the automatic gears, Pareek answered in the affirmative. He said there is a faster move towards the AMT version happening in the SUV segment "with the bookings for the Hexa AMT coming in at a healthy 60 per cent. I hope going forward this will only increase."

"As far as the suppliers of Hexa are concerned I am sure it will be glitch-free. And am sure we will not face a repeat of what happened with the AMT version of the Tiago and the Nano last year."
It can be noted that company faced serious supply side issues last year, forcing Butschek to order an audit of suppliers and sever delivery delays for the automatic version of these two cars.
Asked about production target for the Hexa, Pareek
said, "We can very well meet the demand come whatever it takes," but refused to put a number. He said the Pune plant is running at around 60 per cent of its installed capacity and that capacity will not be a problem at all.

On the safety side, Pareek said standard top notch safety comes across the variants, including dual airbags, ABS with EBD, torque, corner stability programme, disc brakes on all wheels among others.
The Hexa, unveiled at the 2015 Delhi Auto Expo, comes with a complete vehicle package, with combination of design, luxury, off-road and on-road capabilities, boasting modern and exciting architecture, plush interiors and performance related features, enhancing the functionality of the vehicle.
To give better customer experience, the company is offering additional features for warranty policy of for the Hexa with three years or 1,00,000 km. Additionally, customers will be offered an engine warranty of three years or 1,50,000 km, whichever is earlier.