Comfort zone

Calcutta, April 24: Tata Motors will stay away from top-of-the-line cars and continue to focus on its existing range of models even as international majors roll out vehicles in the premium and luxury segments.

Tata Motors makes the Indica in the compact car segment, the Indigo range in entry-size sedan and the Sumo and the Safari in utility vehicles.

?The segments where we are present constitute 88 per cent of the total passenger car market in the country. We will continue to focus on these segments only,? Rajiv Dube, vice-president, commercial, said.

The decision to stay away from the luxury and premium segments, which have witnessed many launches of late from global majors, stems from the fact that volume is small in the Indian context.

Global majors like General Motors, Honda, Hyundai and Toyota develop cars for international markets. As a result, they can consolidate their production for each car in multiple locations. This gives them the economy of scale.

Tata Motors, on the other hand, is focused on the Indian market.

Even as its exports are growing exponentially, the volume does not justify investment in new model development.

?The cost of developing a car is huge. We cannot commit such investment based on a single market. The company plans to expand globally in future, which will reduce dependence on a single market. Once our sales are spread out in different countries, the company will look at developing cars at higher price points,? Dube said.