In the first quarter of 2002-03, the Rs 10,800-crore automotive manufacturer, Tata Motors (then called Tata Engineering), was faced with the prospect of being wiped out of the pick-up truck segment.
Its market share had been consistently sliding for the past four years, from 11.2 per cent in 1999-2000 to 3 per cent in 2002-03.
In August 2002, the company launched the 207 DI pick-up truck in West Bengal and Assam, a market that sold only 75 pick-ups per month and contributed to just 4 per cent of national sales
