Tata Motors takes on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in the mid-SUV segment like the Hyundai Creta and the Kia Seltos with an aggressively priced electric Curvv SUV Coupe, starting from Rs 17.49 lakh onwards.
The car will be available in two battery sizes – 45 kWh and 55 kWh – offering a range of 502 km to 585 km. Tata claims that the battery can get up to 150 km worth of charge in just 15 minutes, and 10-80 per cent charge in 40 minutes.
The Curvv EV competes directly with the MG ZS EV. However, prices overlap with the Nexon EV (Rs 14.49-19.49 lakh) and the Mahindra XUV400 (Rs 15.49-17.69 lakh). It is also competitively priced against the ICE models like Hyundai Creta (Rs 11 lakh to Rs 20 lakh) and the Kia Seltos (Rs 10.9 lakh to Rs 20.37 lakh).
On September 2, the company will unveil the pricing of the ICE version of the Curvv.
At present, the mid-SUV segment clocks around 680,000 units a year and contributes around a third of the overall SUV volumes.
“While the industry is seeing flattish growth, mid-size SUVs are growing very strong, above 20 per cent or so,” said Shailesh Chandra, managing director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility. Chandra also said that the relative slowdown in the first four months of the financial year in the EV space has been due to the fleet segment, which saw an impact from the FAME-II subsidy withdrawal. The personal segment EV sales remain stable, he said.
SUVs as a category overall have grown from a 20 per cent share of the passenger vehicle market about five years ago to more than a 50 per cent share now. Along with this, there has been a lot of fragmentation as well – sub-compact SUVs (3.8 metres in length), compact SUVs (up to 3.99 metres), mid-SUV (about 4.3 metres), and then high-SUV (4.5-4.6 metres); and finally larger SUVs which go beyond that. Mid-SUVs are emerging as the largest category within SUVs, commanding a market share in excess of 33 per cent – or more than one-third of the SUV volumes come from this category. Sub-compact SUVs have a 20 per cent share in the overall SUV segment, and compact will have around 25 per cent. The remaining come from high-SUVs and beyond.
Tata Motors did not have a presence in the mid-SUV segment so far.
Numbers show that this segment is growing faster than the rest of the sub-categories. In FY24, sub-compact SUVs more than doubled (110 per cent growth), while mid-SUVs grew by around 41 per cent. Compact and high-SUV sales were slightly down. In Q1FY25, sub-compact SUVs continued to grow strong – 75 per cent, while mid-SUVs clocked a 20 per cent growth.
First Published: Aug 07 2024 | 3:46 PM IST
