Tata Motors 407 continues to rule India's LCV cargo segment
Published On Apr 24, 2020
The 407 retains leadership in the LCV cargo segment with its functionality, practicality and performance. Tata Motors enjoys undisputed leadership in this vital segment of the truck market.
In the Indian truck market, it is not often that one particular product defines a category of trucks. There are only a handful of products that have not only remain relevant with changing times but also maintained leadership with a strong brand presence in a segment even after decades of existence.
Tata Motors 407 is one such product; despite being around for decades, this truck continues to attract equal interest among Indian LCV cargo truck buyers. This unique truck remains the most popular in LCV segment in India without any real threat to its leadership.
In April-March-2019-20, the total industry volume of the 3.5-6T GVW category was 23,124 units (-27). Tata Motors alone sold 15,828 (-25%) units in the domestic market with over 68% market share in the 3.5-6T GVW category. This underscores the popularity of 407 trucks among India LCV buyers.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), VE Commercial Vehicles are two prominent players in the category with reliable products offering and hence trying to challenge the market leader in the category. M&M and VE Commercial Vehicle sold 2,932 units and 2,757 units respectively in the category with an almost equal percentage of market share.
What makes 407 tick?
Tata Motors has a wide range of products in its LCV portfolio with the introduction of the modern Ultra range. However, the 407 remains by far the most popular truck in the category, with a huge lead among its siblings.
The 407 India's first LCV launched back in the mid-80s is among the oldest truck platform introduced by Tata Motors. Even after 30 years on Indian roads, truck buyers find this cargo vehicle equally suitable for the last-mile and rural deliveries.
The reason is, over the years, Tata Motors has expanded the 407 family of trucks into many different variants, thus offering plenty of applications and choices to the customer. Apart from its practicality, affordability and easy to operate, this truck also has a wide range of variants. Today, the 407 family has over 12 different variants on sale with several load bodies, configuration and aggregates combination catering to diverse customers in both diesel and CNG powertrain.
Tata Motors continues to enhance the performance of this truck with regular updates, additional features and strong aggregates. The 407 trucks also being comfortable, safer and reliable, helping fleet-operators and individual owners to run a successful business.
Tata Motors has also introduced several driver-friendly features into this popular truck such as mobile charging socket, heat-resistant premium titanium white colour, heat-resistant seat fabric, more storage space inside the cabin, enhanced exterior looks, etc. There are many contemporary features including seat belt warning for the driver, battery charge indication lamp, the comfort of drivers is taken care of by reclining seats, and large spacious cabin etc.
According to Tata Motors, the 407 trucks are suitable for general cargo, e-commerce and special applications such as tankers, containers, ambulance, postal van, ambulance, AMT van, among others. It offers higher mileage with optimal performance in almost every terrain.
India has moved to BS6 emission norms earlier this month, and Tata Motors is likely to introduce the 407 with its new powertrain. It will be interesting to see how the 407 evolves in the modern era. The company will certainly do whatever it takes to protect its leadership and make this truck even more appealing to the buyer.
Will it continue to be customers' beloved truck? Well, time will tell this. We will keep you updated by tracking the journey of this popular truck. Until then, stay tuned.
Also Read: All-New Tata Ultra T.16 AMT BS6: Key USPs