‘We will improve the price value equation of EVs’: Shailesh Chandra, Tata Motors

What are the volumes that you are expecting from Harrier.ev?

The Harrier electric vehicle breaks the barriers of electric vehicles with its features, particularly the range anxiety. The SUV segment has been growing in the past few years, not only in terms of CAGR but also in terms of segmental shift that we are seeing in favour of SUVs, which have gone up to 54-55 per cent.

The expensive side of the mainstream SUV segment, where one has products like Harrier are all more than Rs 20 lakh. The segment has grown to 25,000 units per month

Harrier.ev is going to be a discovery phase for us. We will have to go through the journey of creating awareness, getting people to test-drive and experience the car. We have a certain volume in mind, and we can ramp up the production if required.

The scarcity of rare earth magnets is likely to impact the entire industry. Will Tata Motors be impacted? How are you addressing the issue?

We do not see any immediate impact or a crisis in production as we have inventories available with us. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) are working very closely with the government on the rare earth magnet supply. We have the government’s full support, and I’m hopeful that the issue will be addressed before any kind of concerns emerge

There has been an overall slowdown in sales of electric vehicles. Tata Motors has also witnessed a decline. Do you see the sales picking up in FY26?

The slowdown occurred on the passenger vehicle side. The story has two parts. There is one part of the market that is declining, which is the hatches, but the SUV segment is seeing strong growth, and therefore I would say that while there is a problem in the entry segment, hatches but there is strong growth in the SUV segment.

As far as the electric vehicles are concerned, till FY24, the growth rates were in multiples of even 50 per cent. It was only in the first half of FY25 that we saw a significant negativity globally around electric vehicles, which created a lot of uncertainty in the minds of customers.

The FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles) incentive was discontinued in the fleet segment, which impacted the first half of FY25, but in the second half, with multiple launches, some positivity was brought back into the market, and eventually, we saw a double-digit growth in the electric vehicle segment. Tata Motors is the market leader, and the loss in volume primarily happened because of the fleet segment, whereas we were able to hold our volumes in the personal segment. This year, there should be a revival of more than 50 per cent in the segment.

What corrective actions are you taking to increase the electric vehicle sales in FY26?

We see the electric market into three segments, one of which is the less than ₹12 lakh segment, which is primarily used as city cars, and the size is limited, and for that segment to expand, the size requires a certain more value for the price that we are giving. We are going to do that to enhance the value in terms of the range and price equation.
Second is the mid-segment, which is more beyond city use, but there are still barriers including range, charging speed and so on. Then there is this new emerging segment beyond ₹20 lakh where the barriers are gone, and therefore this segment would directly compete with ICE as the awareness and consideration increase, and we are positioning it as a first product in the segment, and then we will have Sierra.

This segment will have a big opportunity for us. Going forward, we are going to improve the price value equation of other cars in the current portfolio. All these actions will help us grow in the personal and fleet segments.

With Harrier, will Tata Motors be expanding the electric vehicle retail stores?

There are certain cities that we have seen wherein the volumes have crossed the threshold of viability. We are opening the stores there, but we also have a shop in concept. We have identified about 50 cities where we are crossing the threshold of volumes, where viability is clear. We are opening electric vehicle retail stores.