Tata Motors adopts a new approach to define its cars, SUVs

A new trim level strategy, starting with the Tata Punch, aims to also remove any social stigma that may be associated with lower priced variants

The Tata Punch, scheduled for commercial launch on 18th October, will not only mark the market entry of Tata Motors in a new segment, but also start a new trim level strategy for the OEM’s passenger vehicles. In a departure from using a set of letters to define a trim level, Tata Motors now wants to give its trim levels different “personas,” to reflect the personality of its customer. More importantly, it’s an attempt to remove any “stigma” associated with lower trim levels which may also be seen as despecced versions.

The Tata Punch trim levels are named as Pure, Adventure, Accomplished, and Creative instead of XE, XM, XT, XZ which has been the practice so far. “It’s a kind of a psychological way of approaching it,” says Martin Uhlarik, Global head of design, Tata Motors tells ETAuto during his first visit to India after taking on his current role.

With an option available to the customer to configure the chosen variant with plug-in feature packs, the effort is to ensure there is no sense of a compromise for the buyer. Tata Punch which is a “white space product” and expected to gain big volumes for Tata Motors fits well to drive in the new strategy. “This is the first product and we will see how it gets received, and of course everything is always a work in progress,” says Uhlarik, while adding that based on the market experience, the strategy may also be tweaked.