According to sources, Mistry in his annual address to employees of Tata Motors, including overseas subsidiaries, also said "every function, right from design, purchasing, manufacturing to sales, will need to work hard and seamlessly to help us bounce back strongly."
Spelling out steps needed to be taken by the company to be competitive, the sources cited him as saying: "We need to strengthen our capability in bringing winning products to the market in a fast and cost-effective manner. We as an organisation need to institutionalise the New Product Development process working in a collaborative culture with great discipline."
The sources said Mistry drew the attention of the employees to focus on quality and customer experience, which he described as most important.
He said the global economic environment remained challenging, India's GDP growth continued to be below 5 per cent and more importantly, industrial growth has been zero or negative for most of the year.
Industry-wide, the passenger vehicle sector declined by 6 per cent whereas commercial vehicle sales declined by over 20 per cent. The situation, especially in the CV space, has been aggravated by overcapacity, high interest rates and rising fuel prices, Mistry added.
Asking the employees to take on the challenge, he said: "Let's resolve to once again rise to the occasion and put all our efforts to make our company emerge as a one of the most reputed global automotive manufacturers."
When contacted, Tata Motors confirmed Mistry's address to the employees.
Tata Motors suffered a setback when Managing Director Karly Slym, who spearheaded the Horizonext strategy, died in Bangkok in January.
Under the strategy, various initiatives were started by the company on new products and profitability improvement, among others, to help ensure the long-term competitiveness of Tata Motors.