Tata Indica and Indigo to continue to be sold as taxis

Tata's old car brands like Indica and Indigo will continue to be sold for the taxi fleet in India. Though these old cars will create space for the upcoming new cars from the carmaker, they will not be discontinued.

Tata Motors is adopting a segregated brand and product approach taking both personal and commercial usage segments into consideration. The Tata Indica and Indigo are now well known in the Indian market as taxis and are sold extensively in the commercial segment. The company is trying to overcome the social perspective that when a brand does well in the commercial market, nobody wants to buy it for personal usage segment. In a bid to address this, the Bolt, Zest and upcoming Kite siblings will be promoted as the personal segment, while the Indica and Indigo, as the commercial ones.

Girish Wagh, Senior Vice President (Programme, Planning and Project Management, Passenger Vehicles), Tata Motors, said, "It is a reality in India and therefore at the portfolio level, what we have decided is that we will continue to play at the commercial segment but we will continue with different brands and products. We want specific brands in commercial segment and specific brands essentially for the personal segment, so that they remain exclusive in personal segment. We will have Indica and Indigo as brands in the commercial segment."

The Tata Zest and Bolt are only on sale in the passenger segment of cars and were supposed to replace the age old Indigo and Indica respectively. But these latter models will continue to be on sale and sold in the commercial vehicle segment till the end of its life cycle. With the introduction of new products as well, let us hope this strategy helps Tata Motors to improve its brand image in India.