Indica Sales Sky Rocket By 207 Per Cent In April

Tata Engineering has registered a substantial increase of 207 per cent in Indica car sales to 5,143 cars in April 2000 as against 1,676 cars sold in April 1999. However, the April 2000 sales were lower than the March 2000 sales of a record 7,213 cars.

The company has claimed that it has gained a market share of 8.8 per cent of the total passenger car market market and 21 per cent of cars in its category during its full first operating year, achieving a sale of 54,480 cars in 1999-2000. The company clocked 50,000 car sales in a span of 12 months since the commencement of its dilveries in March 1998.

With the increased Indica sales, the company has emerged as the second largest passenger car manufacturer in the domestic market with a sale of 82,836 passenger cars and utility vehicles in fiscal 1999-2000.

For the current fiscal year, Tata Engineering has set a sales target of 90,000 cars, out of which 20 per cent will be the petrol version models and the balance will be its highest selling diesel versions of Indica.

"If we are able to achieve our sales target at around 85,000 to 90,000 in the current year, then we will be able to achieve the breakeven in our operations. No company in the world has ever been able to achieve a breakeven immediately because car manufacturing has high gestation period," Rajiv Dube, general manager of Tata Engineering said.

In last fiscal year, Tata Engineering exported 5,000 of its Indica cars, with the export shipment being sent in January 2000. For the entire fiscal year 1999-2000, Tata Engineering sold close to 2 lakh vehicles in all the segments, including utility vehicles and commercial vehicles. The company is now looking at alternative fules to power its cars, particularly CNG. "Getting into alternative fuels is our company's strategy and we are looking at CNG options and not LPG currently," Dube said.