Tatas in talks over City Rover price cut

Attempt to cut City Rover price to boost sales.

UK-based automobile major MG Rover and Tata Motors are in talks to bring down the price of the City Rover car in an attempt to boost its sales.

Tata Motors supplies Indica cars to Rover, which sells them under the City Rover brand name.

Asked whether Rover was seeking a cut in the price at which Tata Motors supplied Indica to Rover so that it could, in turn, reduce City Rover's price, a Tata Motors spokesperson said: "Given the fact that we are looking at selling big volume in the UK and Europe with Rover over a five-year period, it is only natural for both the partners to discuss business plans from time to time . As business partners, we are working together to grow our business and improve our sales."

MG Rover and Tata Motors have signed a five-year deal for the export of 100,000 City Rovers over the period, or an average of 20,000 Indica cars a year.

The Tata Motors spokesperson refused to divulge the exact number of Indica cars shipped and the number of City Rovers sold in the UK and Ireland.

V Sumantran, executive director, passenger car business unit, Tata Motors, however, told Business Standard at a recent press conference that Rover was selling 700-800 City Rovers a month during the last few months.

Autocar India reported this month that Rover sold 4,800 cars since October 2003.

Sumantran added that Tata Motors had stopped shipments in the last few months owing to an unprecedented increase in demand for the upgraded Indica cars in the domestic market. The City Rover faces stiff competition in the super mini segment from cars like the Fiat Panda, Toyota Yaris, Daihatsu Charade and Skoda Fabia.

At Pound sterling 6495-8895, the City Rover is slightly more expensive than the Fiat Panda (Pound Sterling 6295-8895) Tata Motors has not yet begun exports of the City Rover to the left-hand drive markets of continental Europe.