Tata’s Tiago Likely To Overtake Renault's Kwid In Small Car Category

Home-grown auto major Tata Motor’s small car Tata Tiago which brought the automaker back in the game continues to find buyers and move up in the ladder of best-selling cars. Sale of Tiago is likely to overtake the sale of Renault’s popular car Kwid in coming months as the gap between the two was only one car in June 2017.

Tata motor sold 5438 units of Tiago while Renault sold 5439 units of Kwid during the last month, a drop of 42 per cent year-on-year. The French carmaker had sold 9459 units of Kwid last year.

In the monthly top selling ranking table also, Kwid slipped from 5th spot to 9th spot. On the other hand, Tata Tiago continues to do 5,000,-6,000 units per month and recently clocked the one lakh unit booking mark.

Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, said, “With Tiago, we showcased tremendous potential, and continued our legacy of offering game-changing and category defining products. It recently crossed the one lakh bookings milestone in the domestic market, since its launch in April 2016.”

The small car market is dominated by Maruti Suzuki’s Alto which continues to find 15,000 buyers per month. Korean automaker’s Hyundai i10 is the second most popular car in the segment and sell an average of 12,000-13,000 units per month.

Despite a rise in demand of premium hatchbacks and UVs, entry level cars still have lion’s share in the Indian passenger vehicle market and is the most important segment for carmakers looking to increase their market share.

The industry expert says that demand for Kwid declined because there are multiple options available for consumers in the segment while Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai remains the first choice of buyers.

“Tata has a bigger supply chain and Tiago is more appealing than Kwid in the same price range. Renault will have to lift the game to get its mojo back in the segment,” said an analyst, adding that a nominal price cut by both carmakers will uplift the demand in coming months.

While Renault has reduced the price of Kwid in the range of Rs 5,200 to Rs 29,500, Tata Tiago has become cheaper by Rs Rs 9,400 to Rs 52,000. Prior to GST, the Tiago had a selling price between Rs 3.30 lakh and Rs 5.84 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), while prices for the Kwid started at Rs 2.65 lakh went till 4.57 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).