Tata’s Ace sales cross 1-lakh mark

Five years ago, Tata Motors launched a vehicle which literally sparked a revolution in the humble goods carrier segment.

The Ace was the country's first mini-truck on four wheels with a sub-one tonne capacity. It was priced at around Rs 2.4 lakh which made it dearer than its nearest three-wheeler competitor in this product space.

Despite that, the Ace got the fancy of the market to the extent that sales doubled from its first year of launch to 70,000 plus units in 2006-07 and to nearly 90,000 units in '08. The global slowdown, which paralysed the commercial vehicle industry, bypassed the Ace which reported sales of 81,000 vehicles in 2008-09.

However, the icing on the cake was in 2009-10 when the little wonder from Tata Motors notched up sales of 110,032 units. According to a company press release issued here on Tuesday, it is now the first product in the goods carrier segment to cross the one-lakh mark in sales.

What is it about the Ace that makes it such an attractive proposition? In the first place, it is clearly a more upmarket vehicle compared with the three-wheeled goods carrier. The driver's cabin is a separate unit with doors which gives him a sense of being nearly at par with his counterparts handling cars.

This ‘status enhancement' in the Ace has been a big reason for its brisk sales, sources say. In turn, this also offers a relatively higher sense of safety vis-à-vis the traditional three-wheeler which also works in the Ace's favour.

Imitation is the best form of flattery and it did not take too long before competitors decided to follow suit with similar products in the goods segment. Piaggio, which had created a stir in the market with its three-wheelers, launched the four-wheeled Ape Truk. More recently, Mahindra & Mahindra came out with the Maxximo and, prior to that, another four-wheeler positioned below this value proposition called the Gio.

Prime mover

The Ace, though, continues to be the prime mover and accounts for over 85 per cent of total sales in this product category. Increasingly, it also looks as if the three-wheeler goods carrier will come under pressure as more and more end-users opt for the more fancy four-wheeled option.

In a way, the Ace was actually the first Nano in the pick-up segment except that it did not have quite the same halo as the car. “By the end of the day, commercial vehicles do not have the glamour quotient like automobiles. Despite that, the Ace has still managed to create a fashion statement,” industry sources say.

The Ace portfolio comprises the Ace, the Ace HT, the Ace Ex (with stop-start technology) and the Super Ace (one-tonne). In June 2007, Tata Motors launched the passenger version of the Ace, the Magic. Its sales last fiscal were around 49,000 units.