Tata Motors EXCLUSIVE: Shailesh Chandra on Sierra, EVs & India’s SUV Boom | Acko Drive
Well, Tata Motors has certainly upped its game because, you know, it’s right now number two in the sales as far as 2025 goes and it’s taken a long time to reach this milestone. To talk us through all that and more is none other than Shesh Chandra who’s at the helm of operations at Tata Motors. Shesh, thank you so much for talking to us. My pleasure. Um, as I said earlier, you know, getting to number two position is uh a big deal for Tata Motors. of course what’s the scenario right now and is it jubilant how how are things there in data motors you know I’m saying that uh being a rank two or not is not very important for us it is important that uh the products that we have in our portfolio all of them in their respective segments are in the top two I think that is how we approach the market uh a rank or a market share will be consequential definitely becoming ranked to boost the morale of the team and all yeah uh but I I see more that as a consequential number. It is more important that what we target to sell in the market is what we are focused on and that is how we approach and it’s taken a good amount of time to reach there as well. I mean with good products coming out from the company may be the Nexon or the next generation of the Nexon uh the punch especially uh what do you think was core to that philosophy of bringing out such cars uh to the market? It is very important that uh when you are uh envisioning the strategy of your portfolio, it is important that how you’re catching the future trend and I think that you know when we were conceiving the portfolio which has brought us from say selling about 1 and a half lakh cars in 2020 to say more closer to six lakh cars that has happened because of the spotting of the segments uh of how we’ve visualized the trend going forward and we had visualized that SUVs are going to grow big. uh 2020 it used to be 29% share and majorly the market was more car market which transitioned to 55 and therefore our strategy was spot on uh that more SUVs are going to help and very compelling product like Nexon punch uh Harrier Safari all added to making u us grow to four four nearly four four and a half times uh and that has been the reason behind so spotting the trend is very important and going forward ward the trend will be not only spotting you know what is going to be uh the right set of products that you need but also what technologies are going to grow so I think it is going to be the mix of both and so far that has been working for us so the Sierra then is what you’re talking about I mean that’s that’s basically where the Sierra comes in uh when it comes to new technologies a new avar of Tata Motors how do how do you put it uh the you know when we conceptualized our portfolio We said that if uh a first-time buyer comes and buys a Thiago uh for the entire life as the customer upgrades they should have an option right and therefore you’ll see our portfolio more reflects continuity from a customer perspective uh going up to Harrier Safari and maybe beyond in future but there was a missing link which was this uh absence in a segment between say Kur and Harrier where this was a wide space which was left open and we said if this is to be filled then we should bring back our iconic car which is Sierra which uh for last 5 years I have seen multiple males coming to me that why don’t you launch Sierra so there’s huge it’s not just a car launch for us it’s basically an emotional moment not only for Tata Motors I think for many uh especially the Gen X who have seen this car physically when it was in the 1990s and dreamt of having this car so one it comes also with responsibility that when we are bringing this in its new aar uh one it is relevant for gen X it is resembling what original Sierra was but at the same time it should be more relevant to the Gen Y genz also that is how we have conceptualized this product you have already seen that um it is focusing it’s in the midsize SUV segment but it is on the premium side of it right so which means that can I come with a car which is uh optim compromise to the footprint of midsize SUV but gives you a high SUV indulgence. That is the whole thought process behind it. So when you talk about spaciousness, comfort, you know the craftsmanship, use of rich material, color, fabric, whether you talk about the tech stack which is of the next level because if you remember original Sierra was ahead of its time in terms of technology also giving powering you know power uh windows AC and all. So we had to be a notch above. So this is the first ICE car which will have the 5G connectivity for example three screen uh you know infotainment system HUD uh L2 plus A dash. So it is full of tech stack also. So I think it will appeal to a wider audience right from Gen X to Gen Y to Gen Z right. So that’s the thought behind Sierra. uh while we what whatever the technologies you spoke about I think Tata Motors has always pioneered in that uh bringing into a car like Sierra and making it more uh you know having a mass appeal or you know having that in place how do you feel that pans out in a car like the Sierra which you says sits at a very premium position in that uh segment do you feel that maybe the base variant has more to offer than uh the competition right You’re absolutely right because see the whole thought process was as I said that just imagine you know people living in big metropolitan or even in smaller towns there’s a genuine issue of parking there’s genuine issue of mannerability and many of times we you know see customers who said I don’t want to upgrade to a bigger car because my parking lot does not allow me or I don’t want uh to handle such a big car it gives me discomfort but they have money to buy a higher car also. So we thought that can we give a high SUV indulgence and that’s why we focused on the premiumness spaciousness. Uh and that is exactly what we have given in this car so that you are able to strike that right optima to appeal to a buyer who can also go for uh this kind of therefore if you are positioning this as premium bid SUV right from the base model it should mean something. So, it’ll definitely have more features than what typically you would see in a mid SUV segment, right? Uh I won’t talk much about the Sierra uh ICE versions right now. I want to get back to what EVs mean for Tata Motors because that’s a position that you have solidified in the market. Uh extremely big on uh sales with really good offerings in that and with the Harrier EV also adding to it. Uh the Sierra of course will add on to it, but what do you see the future like? I mean will the adoption be similar? Uh there have been so many you know studies done right now talking about people still having range anxiety though Tata Motors has been vocal about you know what we make cars that will make you less anxious about the range. What do you have to say about that? No, I think you know since we have uh been in the electric vehicle as the pioneer and we have seen days where the first car had only 100 km range then when we came with Nexon with more than 230 km range real range I’m talking about not a certified range it was a wow and now 200 km is not a wow then 350 km became a wow now people are expecting 500 km so that typical intercity distance you know people travel in India is about 180 km but 90% of the people do less than 400 km in a day so if you’re giving cars above 400 km you’re able to overcome range anxiety as well as the charging infra concern that people have in high SUVs for example Harrier EV you give as an example you are able to overcome not only the range issue or range anxiety by giving 500 km range but also price parity right so If you are able to give price parity, if you are able to give 500 km range, if you are able to give lifetime warranty, which is another concern on battery pack, what happens to it? You have sorted out. That’s why you see that in Harrier EV possibly we get daily bookings of Harrier V more than the ice. That’s the tipping point funnel. We have not been able to achieve this in the entry side. So we have to continue to pursue hitting this sweet spot in the entry segment. And once you do that that is the big unlock to electrification in the country. And that is something which uh I see I feel I have been very optimistic always about EVs right from 2018 I see this happening in certain point in time. But do you think that people will shell out that amount of money say when it is a price parity? Yeah. You are shelling out of the money for a certain size of a car with certain features you would and when you get the comfort of that uncertainty around say battery for example if you are able to give lifetime warranty I think this combination works and we have seen in high SUV segment people have responded to that right uh a quick word from you on how service um I mean you have invested a lot when it comes to uh you know renewing the service aspect of Tata Motors how has that journey been and what’s it looking like right now and the future as well. So see as I said that in five years we grew six time you know four times four and a half times five times and uh that uh really led to an issue of capacity on the service side lagging and that led to definitely a concern on the customer experience on the service side. I think in the last one and a half years we have done a lot of work not only on increasing the capacity rather than focusing on creating multiple service center we rather started measuring ourselves in number of bays which are available enhancing the productivity of bays modernizing the workshops improving the diagnostic abilities as the new technologies are concerning using lot of AI tools to do that improving the roadside assistance possibly now we are the benchmark in terms of uh with the help of my TVs who is our partner in terms of uh on-site repair of cars. Uh I think lot of distance we have covered in the last one and a half years. This is where we want to be the best and this is the path that we are going to pursue. Um it hurts us that in the past that customer had to go through some pains because of the capacity issue but we remain committed to delivering the best customer experience. All right. Final word from you about alternate energy or alternate fuels. Where does Tata Motors stand there and uh is uh I mean you have as Tata Motors always said that we are not affected by the chip shortage out there uh right now or anything related to rare earth metals. What do you think uh I mean how how would you respond to these two uh categories? First you know on um the alternative uh technologies that you said I think we are offering right now the widest uh range of powertrain options CNG, diesel, petrol, electric and uh we do see that there is a certain pathway towards the end destination which is zero emission technology. We will play in the multi power train strategy going forward. uh so that we are keeping all the options uh open and depending on which customer is comfortable with what we are ready to give that kind of a uh offering in the market right coming to rare earth I think rare earth dependence is both for ICE vehicles as well as EVs u rather we have faced more situations on ice than EVs uh but it’s a it’s a reality that uh there has been or there had been dependence on one single geography as far as high rare ths are concerned specifically. So there are multiple initiatives that we are taking. There are certain short-term initiatives to take care of the supply chain immediate supply chain challenges but there are mid and long-term actions to reduce the dependence on high rare earth in certain cases be rare earth free high rare earth free so all those initi initiatives are on short-term midterm to long-term and I think uh we’ll have to find a way out of course sure my final final question to you is you spoke about targeting certain sweet spots uh in the Indian market to enhance the sales further. what are those sweet spots if you that’s the strategy of a company how can I disclose that but uh some of them will be very obvious right like this was very obvious you mid size SUV segment was an obvious gap that was there in the portfolio u still we would be addressing 65 to 70% of the market there is still that 30 35% which is left and some of them we’ll address or some of the current segments which might grow we might also you know see more opportunities there. Yeah. All right. Thank you so much for speaking to us and uh RTS, congratulations on the Sierra and look forward to driving the car for sure. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
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Tata Motors has climbed to India’s No.2 spot in 2025, and it didn’t happen by accident. In this exclusive conversation, Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director at Tata Motors, breaks down the strategy, the product decisions, and the tech bets that shaped this rise.
From spotting the SUV boom early…
To building India’s strongest EV portfolio…
To bringing back icons like the Tata Sierra with next-gen tech…
This conversation is a masterclass in how the Indian car market is evolving.
In this interview, we discuss:
• Tata Motors’ journey to the No.2 position
• Why SUVs (Nexon, Punch, Harrier, Safari) became the growth engine
• The philosophy behind the reborn Tata Sierra
• How Tata is solving India’s EV adoption barriers
• Range anxiety, charging infra & the future of electric mobility
• What Tata is doing about service experience and rare-earth dependency
• The next big “sweet spots” in India’s car market
• Price parity, 500 km EV range & new-age car tech
This is one of the most insightful automaker interviews of 2025 — a must-watch for anyone curious about the future of Indian mobility.
Tell us in the comments:
Which Tata car are you most excited about — Sierra, Harrier EV, Curvv, or something else?
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