If there was a case of absolute crash of a brand which, once, enjoyed a healthy repertoire at the monthly sales charts, it has to be Tata. Once the number three manufacturer in India, it has been pushed back, way back in the last few months.
And looking at the current scenario it doesn’t appear that much will change very soon. However, under the leadership of Karl Slym, what has started to be understood is the fact that there is a remarkable change needed in the way Tata Motors works! Karl Slym is out there to resurrect the ailing manufacturer and its sales.
In a very interesting article published at Money Control, it has been revealed how Tata lost touch with the common consumer. It mentions that Tata wanted to launch Safari Storme somewhere in 2007 as the earlier workhorse Safari, which had been a revelation for Tata, was getting older and needed an immediate makeover.
As a result, the Safari18 project was born in early 2006 which aimed at producing the new Safari in 18 months (Yes 18 stood for 18 months). If things would have been in place, new Safari Storme would have made way sometime towards the end of 2007 in India. This would have helped Tata maintain the Safari momentum which was already at fairly good levels.
But what happened is what we all know. After zillions of internal delays, Tata managed to launch Safari Storme only in October 2012. This is a huge delay of 6 years which costed them approximately Rs 400 crore for the complete project and the momentum. It meant Safari Storme had to start from scratch (as the magic of Safari was diminished) and face much tougher and heated competition.
As a references, in all these years of Storme’s delay, chief nemesis Mahindra has launched as many as 3 absolutely new products in the form of XUV5OO, Quanto and Xylo, along with a refresh to Bolero and Thar! Maruti also launched their Ertiga which has been a superhit and how can we forget Renault’s Duster which has turned the tables in favor of the French manufacturer.
Every single move in the market meant a loss to Tata and its erstwhile numero uno position in the utility space. Tata kept on loosing customers to the competition and the end result is that it is facing a huge downturn in its sales. None of their current product is doing them any good.
However, Karl Slym seems to have a strategy and he is assured that Tata Motors will fight back with a bang. We also understand that Tata has the access to the technology of Jaguar and Land Rover and ample amount of money. They just need proper planing, management, quality control and one or two from the scratch striking products!
Also Read: If Storme Looked Boring to You, See This Tata Safari Storme Mountain Rescue [7 Pics]
Source: Money Control
