Tata Motors to launch EV-only dealerships, plans to export electric cars

After capturing the largest chunk of the Indian electric car market, Tata Motors is now aiming to go even bigger with its EV offensive. As part of the strategy, the automaker is planning to launch EV-only dealerships across the country, Reuters has reported. Besides that, the automaker is reportedly mulling the plan to export its electric cars to overseas markets in order to expand its business. This comes at a time when the automaker has revealed that it plans to have 10 electric cars in its portfolio over the next four years with EVs making up 25 per cent of its total car sales by 2025. The company is also aiming to sell around 100,000 EVs in the current fiscal year.

The homegrown automaker has already rebranded its EV wing, which comes christened as Tata.ev. The new Nexon EV facelift has been launched under the rebranded EV wing of the automaker. The report claims that the Tata Motors management sees the new Nexon EV facelift as the catalyst for the company's plan to launch EV-only dealerships across India.

Watch: 2023 Tata Nexon EV facelift first drive review: Best-seller gets even better?

Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director of Tata Motors has said that the roll-out of the EV-only dealerships is going to be a pan-India and progressive project. He also reportedly said that the growing sales and the new Nexon EV have become the catalyst behind the plan to launch EV-only dealerships. "It is not going to be a pan-India rollout, it is going to be a progressive rollout. We want to understand fully the implication of an exclusive outlet versus what we were selling with the existing outlets," Chandra reportedly said.

The automaker currently has a country-wide dealership network for its petrol and diesel cars. The electric cars are sold through the same ICE vehicle dealership network. The EV-only dealerships will be a distinctive chain of retail outlets. The Tata Motors official said that the company will roll out the new EV outlets in both big and small cities to increase its footprint across India. However, the rollout of the EV-only dealerships will depend on the current retail outlet network.

Speaking about the strategy, Chandra said that Tata Motors' ability to ramp up production of its electric cars and launch new zero-emission models at a faster pace will also support its plan for new EV dealerships, which can now offer a broader portfolio, making them more viable. "Earlier, the bigger problem was our lack of assessment of demand ... today we are very well prepared to deal with a faster ramp up," he reportedly said.

Meanwhile, the automaker is aiming to enhance its EV footprint outside India as well. Chandra said that the automaker is testing the overseas markets for exporting its electric cars. He also hinted that the carmaker may change the products to make them suitable for the overseas markets before exporting them. "It is about which markets I should be in, with what products and with what kind of distribution strategy. We are assessing some markets, running our cars, discussing with business partners," he said. However, the Tata official also said that it is too early to discuss details of the export markets and there would be more clarity next year.