Poor demand has forced Tata Motors to close operation at its Jamshedpur unit for 3 days, starting November 12. A Tata Motors spokesperson confirmed this news saying that the closure of the unit has been planned to coincide with Diwali, on the backdrop of sluggish demand for commercial vehicles. The spokesperson said, “We do not want inventory pile up at the dealers' end and wanted to adjust our production as per demand."
The demand for commercial vehicles in the country, especially in the medium and heavy segment (M&HCV) has continuously decreased in the past few months. Therefore, Tata has come with the decision of closing operation at its Jamshedpur plant which manufactures Trucks, engines, cab and cowl.
According to the data released by Society of Indian Automobiles (SIAM), M&HCV sales in the country has come down by 22.94 percent and was 20,836 units in October 2012, as against 27,038 units in October 2011. The M&HCV sales in the April-October period this financial year fell by 13.99 per cent and was 1,61,533 units, which stood at 1,87,818 units in the same period in 2011.
Tata Motors' M&HCV sales in October this year dipped by 27.95 per cent to 12,120 vehicles, while this number stood at 16,823 vehicles in the same month last year. This sales figure for April to September period stood at 89,817 units which was 20.55 per cent less than its sales in the same period a year ago.
