Tata Motors to pump Rs. 4k cr to drive new products in FY18

Mumbai: Homegrown auto major Tata Motors on Monday said it will invest Rs 4,000 crore in the current fiscal to bring new passenger and commercial vehicles to the market as part of its turnaround strategy.

The company also expects to save over Rs 1,500 crore and add to the bottom line in its domestic business through various cost optimisation exercises and hopes return to the black in 2017-18. Besides, it is looking at "temporary hibernation" of some of its production lines across different plants in order to optimise manufacturing.

In line with its new approach, the company also unveiled its new brand promise with tagline 'Connecting Aspirations'. Tata Motors Managing Director Guenter Butschek said the company has embarked on a turnaround programme with the next 6-9 months being critical as against an earlier planned business transition, to be achieved on the next 2-3 years.

The domestic commercial vehicles business is the backbone of Tata Motors and the focus of the turnaround is on getting higher market share of 5 per cent in this segment and launching new products faster in the market, he told reporters here. "For the CV segment we have earmarked Rs 1,500 crore for FY18," Butschek said, adding that 10 new products have been lined up. Out of these six will be in medium and heavy CV segments, while four products are in intermediate CV category, he said. When asked about passenger vehicles, he said the investment would be of Rs 2,500 crore but did not share product launch details. pti

New Delhi: Tata Power on Monday said it has installed its first electric vehicle charging facility at Vikhroli in Mumbai. Tata Power's aim is to build a network to make it easier for people to adopt to electric vehicles and be future ready, the company said in a statement. Such an adoption of smart charging infrastructure will help the country achieve its ambitious plan of mass scale shift to electric vehicles by 2030, it said.