Tata Motors has already crossed its 2019-20 sales in the current financial year, crossing 1.65 lakh units till date compared with sales of 1.62 lakh units in the previous fiscal.

Its market share has risen to 7.9 per cent from 4.8 per cent. The company hopes to garner 9-10 per cent market share in the coming months.

The turnaround for Tata Motors happened in January last year, said Vivek Srivatsa, marketing head of the passenger vehicle unit.

“In January 2020, we launched our New Forever portfolio. We not only had a BS-VI portfolio but we had totally upgraded all our cars — the Tiago, Tigor, Nexon, Harrier. Altroz was the new and youngest in the portfolio. And we started seeing the results in February 2020. Then, of course, the lockdown happened but as we slowly unlocked we started seeing the benefits of having an upgraded portfolio of cars,” Srivatsa told The Telegraph on the sidelines of the launch of the Safari.

In a challenging year, Tata Motors exhibited a stellar performance in the passenger vehicle market by clocking over 23,000 unit sales every month since October 2020.

In the third quarter, the passenger vehicle segment posted its highest sales in the last 33 quarters.

“Our focus was not just on design but also safety. Altroz had 5-star GNCAP rating, Tiago and Tigor had 4-star GNCAP rating. We used global standards in materials, fit and finish and customers are appreciating that. We also ramped up our network post lockdown. As we are receiving bookings ahead of production, we are also ramping up our production,” said Srivatsa.

The company is doubling its capacity in expectation of increased volumes.

When asked if it is hit by supply chain issues, Srivatsa said: “There are some component-based supply chain issues. But our long waiting period is because of increased demand and we are trying to address that by ramping up production.”

The company is also hoping that its new SUV Safari, which is retailing at Rs 14.69 lakh, will enhance its market share.

SUV is the fastest growing passenger vehicle segment in the country and the new Safari will accelerate the momentum gained by the company’s consistently growing SUV sales that have grown 20 per cent year-to-date compared with the same period last year.