Tata Motors has created an impressive portfolio with its comprehensive range of cars, buses, trucks, defence vehicles and more. They stepped into the automobile industry in 1954 and since then witnessed a lot of ups and downs, eventually becoming a leading automobile manufacturer in the world. As India’s largest automobile company, Tata Motors has operations in many other countries such as UK, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand etc. striving to pioneer new products that fire the imagination of GenNext customers.
The well-known automobile brand started creating ripples in 1986 with the launch of the Tata 407 Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV). The reliability and performance of the vehicle made it popular not only in India but also in several other countries around the globe. Let’s look at a few milestones that the company achieved so far:
- In 1988, Tata Motors entered into passenger vehicle market.
- In 1991, Tata Motors launched Tata Sierra and also entered into a Joint Venture with Nitol Motors. The two set up NITA Company Ltd., first assembly set-up of the company outside India. As years passed by, Tata Motors grew its assembly operations in Bangladesh, South Africa, Myanmar, Vietnam, Kenya, Senegal, Nigeria & Tunisia.
- In 1992, Tata launched Tata Estate – a station wagon whose design was based on the earlier Tata Mobile.
- In 1993, Tata Motors entered into a Joint Venture with Cummins Engine Inc. This tie-up helped Tata Motors to introduce powerful diesel engines that emit lesser carbon.
- In 1994, they came out with Tata Sumo, a 5 door SUV that made quite a name in the market.
- In 1998, Tata launched ‘Indica’, the first fully indigenous Indian passenger car. They also launched Tata Safari in the same year.
- In 2004, Tata Motors made to the New York Stock Exchange. That’s not it; the company also acquired Daewoo, a South Korean truck manufacturing company. Together, they unveiled Tata World Truck range for sale in South Korea, South Africa, SAARC nations and the Middle East.
- In 2006, the aspirations were rising and as a result, Tata Motors joined hands with the Brazil-based Marcopolo S.A, launching the Tata Marcopolo Bus in the coming years.
- In 2008, Tata Motors Thailand came into existence, its first national sales company. This was the year in which Tata launched the world’s cheapest car – Tata Nano and also purchased Jaguar Land Rover from Ford.
- In 2009, acquiring the Spanish bus and coach manufacturer Hispano Carrocera, Tata Motors’ Starbus and Globus range of buses hit the road.
- In 2011, Tata Motors Indonesia established as a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Motors
- In 2012, the company launched Tata Prima – its next-generation platform of heavy trucks in the markets around the world. This year Tata also announced that it would invest 6 billion rupees in the development of Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles in collaboration with DRDO.
- In 2014, automobile giant launched its new platform for light trucks and buses, Tata Ultra. It also introduced ‘T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship”, the first truck racing championship in India.
- In 2015, Tata took the education of its nation’s youth in its hands and started SkillPro. It was a unique skill development programme that trained aspiring youth to become skilled professionals, making them employment ready. This very year, Lionel Messi became Tata’s global brand ambassador to promote and endorse its passenger vehicles globally.
- In 2016, Bollywood’s superstar, Akshay Kumar became Tata’s brand ambassador for its commercial vehicles range.
- In 2017, Tata Motor announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Volkswagen. It stated that Tata Motors will develop vehicles for India’s domestic Market.
- In 2018, Tata Motors sold its aerospace and defence business to another Tata Group entity, known as Tata Advanced Systems. The company also became the first automaker to cross the 1 million sales mark and secured 16th position in the world’s largest light vehicles company list.
A company that was usually known for its commercial vehicle stepped out of its boundaries and worked hard to make its name in the light vehicles sector. As a result, Tata Motors became the third fastest growing brand among the top 20 automobile companies around the world. For years, it was below 5% growth in brand value but it surged ahead and reached 9% in brand value. Today, Tata’s brand value is higher than Airtel and Infosys. Tata’s various vehicles such as Indica, Indigo, Vista, Manza, Aria, Bolt, Safari Storme, Tiago, GenX Nano, Sumo, Tigor, Zest, Nexon and Hexa are sold not just in India but in many other countries of Africa, APAC and Latin America, while those of Jaguar and Land Rover are available in Europe.
If that’s not inspiring growth, I don’t know what is.
