One question that's coming in — what does 'Ariya' mean?
If you look at 'Ariya', the 'AER' basically means air, and it gives a sense of spaciousness. That's how it got the name 'Ariya'.
The sub-four-metre sedan segment was flourishing, and perhaps one of your own cars came and broke that segment, because the Nexon era...
There will be many customers who are buying SUVs because of this lack of modernity. So if we can stop that kind of customer — keeping all of that in mind, we said let's make Ariya a car that will only develop to the requirements of the personal buyer.
And in your own portfolio, if I talk about the Altroz, you've kept its price even lower than that. What are the five biggest USPs, if I may, that you think will now drive the volumes?
This is the single compact sedan that is exclusive to the personal buyer. The kind of technologies and first-in-segment features given in it are more, and the prices are one lakh lower.
Is this series of launches going to stop, or is Tata Motors going to surprise us further?
No, we'll keep troubling you — there are more surprises still to come.
Tata Motors — or let's say the country's company that has been watching me for more than two decades — and the car we're about to talk about is a segment that, you could say, started in the Indian market because of taxation. The company that started it was Tata Motors, and in the last few years — I'm talking about 2008-10 — when the Indigo CS was launched, the boot was chopped, a new segment was created, and after that many manufacturers — Maruti, Hyundai, Honda, Skoda and Ford — all participated in it. But now the story has changed, and for this segment Tata had also launched the Zest and the Tigor. Two cars were present in the same segment at the same time. So to do something new, Tata Motors has always been ahead. And what it has done now is something really special, because the story has changed a lot by now. This is the time when interest in sedans is declining, and to build interest there — or to shake up the market completely — something new has been done. The name you are seeing is Ariya, Tata Motors' new sub-four-metre sedan, and with us is Shailesh ji. Shailesh, thank you very much for your time, and thank you for telling us the whole history.
And I am perhaps one of the lucky journalists who has been part of all these launches. And from then till today, whenever I have reached a launch or spent time with those cars, I have learned something new. And perhaps such a lesson — if I'm not wrong — was also learned from the Zest and Tigor. That was a time when the sub-four-metre sedan segment was flourishing, and perhaps one of your own cars came and broke that segment, because with the Nexon's arrival, the entire focus shifted to sub-four-metre SUVs, all manufacturers moved there, and this segment came down. So what is the reason now that you feel Ariya can revive that segment, because among the top three players there is one player who, I would say, holds more than half the market share?
That's a very valid question. Obviously, as you said, the trend is towards SUVs. Every year we have seen that its share, measured against total industry volumes, keeps declining. But when we did consumer research and looked at the data, one thing emerged: yes, the share is definitely coming down, but India is a growing market, and if you look at the last five years, 2.5 lakh compact sedans were sold, which today has become 3.5 lakh. 85% of the sedan market is sold in the compact sedan segment. The personal segment and the fleet segment are two very different kinds of customers who buy compact sedans. See, in the fleet segment, the compact sedan is the most preferred body style, because if you look at its cost, its efficiency, its utility — the fleet also prefers it the most. But all the manufacturers, including us, were trying to handle both these different preferences with one product.
So there are many customers. See, of the 3.5 lakh market I mentioned, 65% are personal buyers. Just think — why are they buying in the SUV world right now? That means there are still many customers who appreciate the ride comfort, the spaciousness, the luggage space of a compact sedan. They appreciate the size. If you look at size and price efficiency, you get the most in this car. There will be many customers who are buying SUVs because of this lack of modernity. So if we can stop that kind of customer — keeping all of that in mind, we said let's make Ariya a car that will only dial up the requirements of the personal buyer.
Sir, in your own portfolio, if I compare it with the market leaders, the premium hatch that exists — its price is undercut by this. Even the sub-metre sedan that exists, it is quite undercut there too. And in your own portfolio, if I talk about the Altroz, you've kept its price even lower than that — you're undercutting your own segment. What are the five biggest USPs, if I may, that you think will now drive the volumes — the 50% market share you were talking about — and increase the market share?
