Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ganesh Iyer
MMS-B, R.No.-85
1. Explain the following aspects of the case study in brief? (refer exhibit 1 and 2)
o
Commercial vehicle: A commercial vehicle is a type of motor vehicle that is used for
transportation of goods or passenger
Indian
Commercial
Vehicle
sector
4-Wheelers
Sales for 2005-119877 units
Trucks, Pick-ups, Small buses
83% cargo 17% passenger
Payload-1.2-7.5tons
3-Wheelers
Worlds Largest Market
Sales 2005-307887 units
44% cargo 56% passenger
Payload -0.5-1.0 tons
Bajaj (51%)
Piaggio (26%)
Force Motors (8%)
Mahindra & Mahindra (7%)
2-Wheelers
motorcycles , mopeds, sccoters
cars &
sports utility vehicles (SUV)
LCV-Light
Commercial
Vehicle
GVW < 7.5
tons
E.g TATA Ace .
Mahindra
Maximo
Application
GOODS
M&CVMedium and
Heavy
Commercial
Vehicle
GVW > 7.5
tons
E.g.Mahindra
Traco
Seating Capacity< 13
PASSENGER
LCV passengers
Seating Capacity >
13
3.32 million Kilometre of road network out of which national highways network is only 66400
km. Out of 66400 only 7968km is four lane or above.
The maximum percentage share of total roads in India is by District and rural roads
Ban of three wheelers on highways due to slower speed and safety concerns
India has the second largest road network in the world, spanning a total of 4.87 million
kilometres
India transport over 60 per cent of all goods and 85 per cent of total passenger traffic.
6 Continents
96
Operating
Companies
$21.9 bn
Revenue
(2006)
2,02,000
Employees
TATA
Group
(Business sectors)
TATA
Group
54
Operations
Countries
120
Exports
Nations
TATA Motors
TATA motors was initially TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO) established
in 1945
Tata motors together with Daimler Benz started manufacturing medium size commercial
vehicles in 1954 and set up an Indian research and development centre in 1959
Launched a four ton Tata 407 truck which became the top selling in the category
Launched Tata Indica in the year 1998 which received an overwhelming response in the
market
TATA motors is the major manufacturer of passenger cars and commercial vehicles in India
2. Explain the Idea for the Ace and role of Market Research in finding the attractive
segment of LCV of less than 1 ton? (refer exhibit 34)
Tata Motors posted a loss of Rs.5 billion in 2001 added with a downturn of commercial vehicle
sector and absence of smaller than 2 ton vehicle threatened the company to develop a new
product.
As we can see from the exhibit 3 the Road density (paved highway (km)/ Area (km2)) is very
low for India so it was must for the automobile manufacturers to deliver a better vehicle then
three wheeler that could reach the remote areas having unpaved roads
From the second graph it is clear that the GDP per capita of India was very low which
recommended for a low cost vehicle to be launched
Three wheelers were banned from entering highways and heavy commercial vehicle in city
areas
The exhibit 4 shows that the requirement in the 750-1000kgs and 1000-1250kgs was diversified
and a new substitute was required which could do the work of both three wheeler truck and
pickup. This opportunity was by grasped by TATA motors through TATA ACE
3. Explain the Functional and Customer Segmentation used for effective Segmentation
and Targeting Strategy adopted for TATA Ace? (refer exhibit 4 and 5)
Functional segmentation
Percentage
Pickup/LCV
15%
3Wheelers
45%
First Time
Purchsers
40%
Customer Segmentation
Customer Type
Performance sensitive
Balanced perspective
ROI sensitive
Acquisition Price constrained
13%
7%
25%
55%
4. Explain the 4P's of Marketing Mix strategy used for TATA Ace?
Tamil Nadu
Market launch
Maharashtra
Karnataka
Kerala &
Pondicherry
Andra
Pradesh
TATA Ace exceeded the expectations of TATA Motors and its annual production target of
30,000 vehicles was sold in less than one year
54% of the customers were first time buyers, 33% previously owned 3-wheelers customers
and 30% had LCV suggesting that the launch was successful
Customers in the age group 25-35 were the first time buyers suggesting that Ace was
successful in attracting first time buyers
56% of customers were using Ace for intracity transport, 35% for intercity transport, 7% for
village to city transport and 2% for intervillage transport
In Jan 2006 TATA Ace won BBC Top Gears annual Best Commercial Vehicle Design
award.
6. Provide your key learning from the case study on how marketing strategy was
used by TATA Motors for the successful launch of TATA Ace
The marketing strategy should start with the requirement of a customer and then
designing a new-product or upgrading a new product as per customer need.
http://www.ibef.org/industry/roads-presentation