Tata Motors sees demand for commercial vehicles in FY22

NEW DELHI:  Tata Motors is expecting the commercial vehicles (CV) industry to perform well this fiscal after two years of downturn as various indicators such as fleet utilisation and freight rates, a rise in infrastructure activity is showing signs of improvement. 

After struggling for two years, the CV industry logged 22 per cent volume growth in FY22 over the low base of FY21. CV sales in the first quarter of the current fiscal (Q1FY23) continued its upward journey as sales volume more than doubled to 224,512 units as against 105,800 units in the same quarter of the last fiscal.

“The CV industry seems to be on an upside now. Various indicators such as fleet utilisation or freight rates or even the transporters confidence index that we track every quarter seem to be doing pretty well...The government’s push for infrastructure is creating a good demand for tipper trucks,” said Tata Motors executive director  Girish Wagh as the company launched a series of trucks on Monday.

Wagh said the bus segment, which was under severe pressure in FY20 and FY21, has started seeing good demand coming in from the school segment towards the end of the second quarter of the last fiscal and also a good beginning in the employee transport segment.

“So overall, we see all segments, whether M&HCV, intermediate and light small commercial vehicles and even passenger (bus) segment are doing well. I am optimistic that the CV industry should do well this year,” he added.

It has rolled out a CNG-powered medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) range of trucks and a new series of advanced intermediate and light commercial vehicle (I&LCV) tippers and trucks. The CNG models are powered by the proven 5.7-litre SGI engine generating peak power of 180hp and torque of 650Nm and offer a range of up to 1,000 km.