The electric vehicle (EV) unit of Indian automaker Tata Motors on Tuesday Said It has reduced the prices of its cars by up to Rs 120,000 (~$1,450), which is the first instance of a price cut by an electric car maker in the country.
Electric variants currently account for only 2% of car sales in India as buyers are concerned about high upfront costs despite low operating costs and range anxiety persists.
Vivek Srivatsa, Chief Commercial Officer, TPG-backed Tata Passengers, said, “Given the recent softening in battery cell prices and considering the potential shortage in the near future, we chose to proactively pass on the resulting benefits directly to customers Is.” Electric mobility.
The price of the best-selling Nexon.ev has now dropped by 1.4% to Rs 1.45 million. According to Tata’s website, prices earlier started at Rs 1.47 million.
The company, which dominates the sales of EV cars in India, has also reduced the price of its electric small car Tiago by Rs 70,000. The price of the base variant has now dropped by about 8.1% to Rs 799,000.
Launched in 2020, the Nexon.ev was India’s cheapest electric SUV until the launch of Tata’s Punch EV in 2024 at Rs 1.2 million.
EV sales have also slowed globally, with US carmaker Tesla leading a price-cutting war to maintain its sales lead over rivals such as China’s BYD.
“Tata’s price cut in India could also prompt its rivals to price their cars more competitively and launch new EVs at aggressive prices,” said Jai Kale, vice president at Elara Capital.
However, this is in stark contrast to India’s EV two-wheeler market, in which IPO-bound Ola Electric and Hero-backed Ather are locked in a price war.
Tata, which only launched EV dealerships in September, plans to have 10 electric cars in its portfolio over the next three to four years. It aims to bring EV sales to 25% of its total car sales by 2025 from 9.3% in fiscal 2023.
Shares of Tata Motors, which competes with companies like Mahindra and MG Motor, fell as much as 1.9% after the announcement.
