Tata Motors expects to see subdued growth in vehicle sales until the middle of next fiscal, a senior official has said.
Tata Motors Vice-President (Commercial Passenger Cars) R Ramakrishnan said there was no revision of the company's strategy for pushing up Nano sales up, as the existing campaign was a success.
"As we see it today, it is going to be subdued for some more months. It would start picking up in the second half. So [if] that will take us to double-digit growth is anybody's guess," Ramakrishnan told reporters here when asked whether the company expects to see double-digit growth next fiscal.
He said the growth of the economy was subdued compared to projections and hence, sales did not grow as expected.
Cumulative sales (including exports) of the company in the current fiscal amounted to 6,26,770 vehicles, a growth of 11% from 5,67,004 last year.
According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the passenger vehicles segment grew marginally by 0.49% during April-December, 2011. Passenger cars recorded de-growth of (-) 2.28%, utility vehicles grew by 12.67% and vans grew by 7.72% in this period.
However, overall passenger vehicles growth was 8.85% in December, 2011.
Ramakrishnan said a lot will depend on the RBI's monetary policy review on January 24. If there is an interest rate cut, then people will wait for some more cuts to happen before deciding to buy a vehicle.
"If the rate goes down in stages, people will wait for three or four stages before they start purchases," he said.
Replying to query, he said the company is expanding the dealership network for the Nano in semi-urban and rural areas, as per its strategy.
"The low down-payment scheme is highly successful. With Rs 15,000, somebody can buy a car which is a main attraction now. There is no change in strategy," he explained.
According to him, the company has 250 full-range dealerships and 105 exclusive outlets for the Nano, besides 29 dealers for utility vehicles.
Tata Motors today announced the inauguration of four new outlets in Hyderabad, commissioned by Tejaswi Motors.
