Cyrus Mistry says Tata Motors planning a slew of new models

Wednesday, 22 July 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

MUMBAI: Tata Motors is investing heavily to roll out a slew of new models in the passenger and commercial vehicle segments, as also in new technologies to address the varying customer needs so as to make the company future-ready, Chairman Cyrus Mistry has said.

In his address to the shareholders in the 70th annual report, Mistry said, “Our strategy hinges on leveraging the long-term growth opportunity both in the domestic as well as global market. Our country is forecast to witness multi-fold increase in motorisation and we are strongly investing in product and technologies to meet the demand arising from that and also to make Tata Motors future ready.”

Tata Motors, which has been on a downward spiral for the past many years, has of late recouped some of the lost grounds with the three recent launches – the sedan Zest, the hatchback Bolt and the souped up Nano – which helped the company report high double digit sales numbers since January.

A new executive team and a revamped service back-up have also helped the company turnaround its domestic operations under the HorizoNext strategy, which its late president Karl Slym had launched two years ago.

Tata Motors has been reporting heavy losses for the past three years and in the fourth quarter of FY 2014-15 it reported a massive 56.2% plunge in the net profit at Rs. 1,716 crore due to huge asset write-downs, 220-million pound forex loss and poor show by its cash-cow British arm Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).

During the March quarter, the company had incurred a whopping Rs. 3,857 crore in amortisation and depreciation expenses.

Tata Motors consolidated net profit for FY 2014-15 inched down to Rs. 13,986 crore from Rs. 13,991 crore despite a 13% jump in revenue at Rs. 2,62,796 crore, out of which JLR contributed around 85%.

For the second quarter in a row, even its marquee JLR reported a massive 32.7% fall in net at 302 million pounds from 449 million pounds during the same period of FY 2013-14.

On a standalone basis, Tata Motors India net loss for the March quarter widened to Rs. 1,164.25 crore from Rs. 816.61 crore in the year-ago period as it took a write-down following three new model launches – Bolt, Zest and a new Nano – at the double the original price during the fiscal.

“As leaders in the commercial vehicle industry, Tata Motors is developing a strong pipeline of products and solutions. In the passenger car space, we will continue to excite the market with new and innovative products that will seize the imagination of customers,” Mistry told the shareholders.

JLR will launch the Jaguar XE and the Discovery Sport worldwide this year, Mistry said.