Tata Motors chairperson Natarajan Chandrasekaran says that while there is a big push towards electric vehicles in the Indian market, the internal combustion engine is not going to go away anytime soon. Chandrasekaran was addressing the shareholders at the 78th Annual General Meeting on Tuesday.
The focus on multi-powertrain has helped Tata Motors bring in incremental sales, however, the brand has no plans to bring in hybrid vehicles, a technology that the market leader Maruti Suzuki, along with its alliance partner Toyota, is betting on. At the meeting, Tata Motors also confirmed that it will bring as many as four electric SUVs – the Nexon EV facelift, Punch EV, Harrier EV and the Curvv EV – by early next year.
Chandrasekaran says that by the end of this decade, the EV penetration for passenger vehicles will be 50 percent, and so internal combustion engines like petrol, diesel and CNG will still have a strong presence. “Currently, we don’t have any plans for hybrids. We are focused on EVs, on commercial vehicles, and heavy trucks; we will have hydrogen trucks,” he adds.
Tata Motors has committed Rs 8,000 crore to its standalone business for the financial year of 2024, it has committed about USD 2 billion (approximately Rs 17,000 crore) to its EV business through its subsidiary, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility. On the long-term growth potential of the market, Chandrasekaran says, "The Indian market will move towards 10 million units per annum over time and Tata Motors is well positioned to capture the growth as well as gain market share."
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