The new range of M&HCV branded as ‘Signa’ will take over the current generation of mainstream products and replace the entire M&HCV segment in the next two years.
16 Nov 2015 | 9756 Views | By Kiran Bajad
Faced with increasing competition from domestic and foreign players and in a bid to protect its 50 percent plus market share in the Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicle (M&HCV) segment and further gain market share, Tata Motors is introducing a new brand for its M&HCV range in the January-March 2016 ...
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Faced with increasing competition from domestic and foreign players and in a bid to protect its 50 percent plus market share in the Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicle (M&HCV) segment and further gain market share, Tata Motors is introducing a new brand for its M&HCV range in the January-March 2016 quarter of this fiscal.
The new range of M&HCV branded as ‘Signa’ will take over the current generation of mainstream products and replace the entire M&HCV segment in the next two years. The Signa range will come with a new modern and contemporary cab, e-connectivity and better ergonomics.
Speaking to Autocar Professional, Ravi Pisharody, executive director, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors, said, “We will start rolling out the Signa brand with tractor-trailers first and over the next 12-24 months, it will cover our tipper and multi-axle trucks. Signa will take over the mainstream product and the first product to be introduced in the new range will be 4018 and 3518 tractors.”
The new brand will stand below the current premium range of the Prima trucks and gradually replace the existing non-branded M&HCV range and the old products will be discontinued.
Tata Motors had introduced its first commercial vehicle brand – the Ace small commercial vehicle – way back in 2005 and it became a huge success in the sub-one tonne segment. This was followed by other brands such as the Magic, Winger, Starbus, Ultra and Prima.
With the introduction of Signa, Tata Motors’ entire range of commercial vehicles will be covered under brands and Signa will cover large part of the business into branded products.
“We have been working on this project for 3 years now and already had some customer clinics seeking customer feedback. Customers have given an overwhelming response for the new brand and the Signa will the potential to become enormously successful.”
While speaking on the features on the Signa range of M&HCV, Pisharody said, they will look modern with a new cabin, fit and finish and design, and contemporary styling. Special attention has been given to driver comfort with suspended seats, more ventilation and cooling with more ergonomics and a new dashboard. Though Signa will not have a new powertrain, it will get the current generation Cummins V series engine and available in both BS III and BS IV formats.
The new trucks will have telematics as a standard feature in every truck with all the back office support. Since the Signa products are targeted at the Indian market with strict cost targets, they have been developed by local R&D teams with extensive customer feedback.
“We don’t want to increase the price point of the products. It will be at the current price point but over last 10 years we have acquired a lot of styling and design capability in cars and commercial vehicles and used them for the Signa trucks, thus making them completely in-house with local R&D team,” Pisharody said.
This is a fresh attempt by Tata Motors to introduce a new brand in the M&HCV segment which comprises a large part of the commercial vehicle industry in terms of overall numbers and value. Thus far, these trucks are often identified by only number such as 4018, 3518 and 2518.