Tata Magic drives past the 300,000 sales mark

In July this year, Tata Motor’s Ace family of small commercial vehicles (SCVs) achieved the milestone of 1.5 million sales cumulatively. On September 21, in yet another landmark, its public transport vehicle – the Tata Magic – crossed sales of 300,000 units.

With the Magic, Tata Motors has been successful in breaking this highly complex structure of the last mile passenger transport vehicle industry with an over 85% market share in this segment. Magic sales reached the first 100,000 units in three years and the next 200,000 units in five years.  

According to Tata Motors, the Magic has been lauded by various government stakeholders – district authorities / transport authorities and also the Ministry of Urban Development which has been endorsing it as an ideal vehicle to replace old three-wheelers and uplift the face of last mile public transport in urban and rural markets in India.

Ravi Pisharody, executive director, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors, said: “With the achievement of the 300,000 sales mark of the Tata Magic, we yet again, confidently testify the value and trust we offer to our customers. The Magic’s success is a testimony to our engineering excellence and strong customer orientation. With a market share of over 85%, the Tata Magic has revolutionised the last mile passenger transport segment. We continue to be the dominant player and make huge strides in the small commercial vehicle industry.”

Speaking to Autocar Professonal, R Ramakrishnan, Senior Vice President, Product Strategy& Planning and Customer Value Creating, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors, said, “The goods carrier segment is easy to understand and operate whereas the passenger vehicle segment is challenging to operate. The reason is that for any passenger vehicle needs a permit to operate and these permits are issued by authorities which makes it more challenging and difficult than goods vehicles.”

Huge potential in SCVs
Tata Motors sees huge potential in the SCV market in India, largely due to the country being under-penetrated in this segment.

Ideally in any developed or developing market, the ratio between large and small trucks is about 1/4 which means that for every big truck there are about 4 small trucks to facilitate transport of goods to the last mile. India at present stands about1/2.5.

On the proposition between goods and passenger vehicles, typically for every single goods vehicle there are about 5-6 passenger vehicle. This too is as under-served market with just one vehicle for every 5 goods vehicles, which thus spell another  big opportunity in the SCV segment.

However, the Tata Magic has not able to penetrate into large parts of the country largely because of state authorities' reluctance to issue permits considering the adverse impact it would have on government-run buses and three-wheelers.

The company currently sells about 2,000 Magics a month but believes that there is enormous potential since the vehicle offers comfort safety and reliability.

Though the Magic sells across all states in India, its key markets are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

In states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, the Magic has been allowed to run in intra-city routes with stage carriage permits. The Magic has replaced many autorickshaws in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. And states like Maharashtra allow the Magic to ply as part of the school bus segment. 

“We are working with the authorities to make them understand the benefit that a vehicle like the Magic offers and are trying to create a win-win situation for everyone. Today almost a million people travel in a Magic across the country," says Ramakrishnan.

Developed on the the Ace platform, the Tata Magic was launched in June 2007 as India’s first small commercial four-wheeler in last mile public transport. The  Magic was designed to offer a comfortable, safe, four-wheeler public transportation mode to urban and rural areas in a segment which was, at the time, dominated by three-wheeler passenger carriers.

Like the Ace brand, the Magic range too has helped uplift many lives and has been a strong contributor to the growth of many entrepreneurs in India.

The Magic family today comprises of the Magic Diesel (BS3 & BS4), Magic CNG (BS4), Magic Iris Diesel (BS3 & BS4) and Magic Iris CNG (BS4) and will continue to add more variants in the family in future.

The Tata Magic is manufactured at the Pantnagar plant, which began commercial production in August 2007. The Magic is exported to 20 countries across SAARC nations and African countries such as Angola, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zambia.