Tiago sales comes as much needed shot in the arm for Tata Motors

The company was expecting diesel variants to outsell petrol variants and had prepared its production schedules accordingly.The Tata Tiago bookings exceed 20,000 units since its launch in early April. The positive response for the small car comes as a much needed shot in the arm for Tata Motors.

However, it’s being reported that the deliveries of the Tiago have been impacted due to mismatch between the demand and supply. Tata apparently wasn’t prepared to manufacture petrol variants in large quantities.

Company is said to have set its production split in favor of diesel variants whereas the actual demand from customers is more for petrol variants. Caught off guard, Tata is currently working on realigning the production schedule to increase the number of petrol Tiagos rolling out from the Sanand facility. The waiting period for petrol variants may increase temporarily.

The reducing price gap between petrol and diesel fuels, ban on diesel cars in Delhi, ongoing campaign against diesel cars in general, and the price difference of INR 75,000 – 1,00,000 between petrol and diesel variants are the prime factors for petrol cars being favored. According to The Hindu, Tata Motors is reacting to the trend and the demand-supply issue is expected to normalize in the next 8 weeks.

It’s being reported that out of the 20,000 bookings, 70-80% of them are for petrol variants. This heavy inclination towards petrol motor came as a major surprise to the automaker. Guenter Butschek, Managing Director, Tata Motors, stated that a second shift has been added to the Sanand factory in an attempt to address the Tiago petrol production bottleneck.

The NGT diesel ban may be targeting only big engined cars but some analysts say that the extension could have a significant impact on the buying pattern in small car segment as well and the Tiago case seems to be an example.

This article has first appeared in Rushlane.com