Tata's Aria 2nd-highest selling UV

Tata Motors is firming up plans to ramp-up production of Aria on the back of strong sales of the crossover utility vehicle.

SG Saxena, head, utility vehicles, Tata Motors, said: "The response to Aria has been very good. Aria has become the second-highest selling car in the Utility Vehicle category, which has about 15 other players."

Aria, at present, has a 14 per cent share in the UV segment, clocking in sales of 225-250 units a month. Toyota's Fortuner leads the category with 57 per cent market share. Since its launch in August 2009, Toyota has sold 15,000 units of Fortuner.

Tata Motors launched Aria in October last year to regain share in the UV segment, which it had lost to M&M over the last three years.

 

According to data available with the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the share of Mahindra & Mahindra (Scorpio, Bolero and Xylo) has gone up from 43 per cent in 2007 to 55 per cent in 2009.

During the same period, Tata Motors has fallen from 22 per cent to 13 per cent. Others in the fray are Toyota (Innova and Fortuner), General Motors (Tavera and Captiva), Honda (CRV), Maruti Suzuki (Grand Vitara), Hyundai (Terracan and Santa Fe) and Ford (Endeavour).

Since the launch of Aria, Tata Motors' UV sales have moved up 45 per cent in the October-December quarter.

Saxena said: "Around 55 per cent of the bookings are coming in for the top-end version of the Aria. We are working on increasing the production to meet the surge in demand for the car."

Tata Aria comes in three variants, Pride, Prestige and Pleasure priced between Rs. 13 and Rs. 16 lakh.

Aria is available in 25 cities through 65 dealerships. Saxena informed going ahead, Tata Motors may look at exporting the Aria in markets similar to India.

In January this year, Tata Motors sold 30,212 passenger vehicles, which is an increase of 15 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last year.

Of this, 4,462 units came from sales of utility vehicles, Safari, Sumo and Aria which has grown by over 26 per cent.

The company is working on launching an upgraded version of the Safari in the course of this year.