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Essay / The characteristics of the automobile industry in the...
The recent launch of Prima Trucks and Tata Ultra in the commercial segment creates new advancements for the company in terms of market share. With several launches in the passenger vehicle segment such as Bolt (premium hatchback) and Zest (compact sedan), the company intends to compete with Hyundai, Maruti and Honda. The company is present in 175 markets with more than 6,600 sales and service points5. They have manufacturing plants in 7 countries: South Africa, Morocco, United Kingdom, Spain, India, Thailand and South Korea. Their R&D facilities are located in the UK, Italy, Spain, India and South Korea. Profits and sales volume declined in 2014 (Table 3)5. Further details of the revenue distribution are given in Table 45. On the positive side, Tata Motors could leverage the conglomerate advantage by being part of the diversified Tata Group. WHAT STRATEGY TO FOLLOW? Since its inception, Tata Motors has wanted to have a wide range of products: passenger cars, commercial vehicles and also commercial vehicles. The Indian automobile market is one where there are many buyers and many sellers and hence in such a market no single player dominates. Tata Motors therefore had the option to choose between two different strategies: cost leadership or product leadership. Tata Motors has adopted a cost leadership strategy with emphasis on the right product at the right time. And where the technology was lacking to differentiate itself