Tata Motors’ PV And CV Sales In The Negative, Outlook Remains Positive

Tata Motors

Tata Motors, one of the leading passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle manufacturers in the country, has announced its wholesales for June 2025 and Q1 FY2026.

The company reported that its total PV sales came at 124,809 units in Q1 FY2026, down 10 percent from Q1 FY2025 on a YoY basis. Domestic PV sales, including EVs, came at 123,839 units, down 10 percent YoY. For June, PV sales came at 37,083 units, down 15 percent compared to the same period last year.

TATA MOTORS PASSENGER VEHICLES
  June '25 June '24 Change (in %) Q1 '26 Q1 '25 Change (in %)
PV Domestic (includes EV) 37,083 43,524 -15% 123,839 138,104 -10%
PV IB 154 100 54% 970 578 68%
Total PV (includes EV) 37,237 43,624 -15% 124,809 138,682 -10%
EV (IB + Domestic) 5,228 4,657 12% 16,231 16,579 -2%

Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, said, “In Q1 FY2026, the passenger vehicle industry experienced volume pressures, particularly in May and June, with flat growth reflecting continued softness in demand."

"The electric vehicle segment emerged a bright spot, driven by robust growth and the launch of new EV models across OEMs, enhancing customer interest and consideration. Tata Motors reported wholesales of 124,809 units in Q1 FY2026, including 16,231 EV units, underscoring our commitment to aligning wholesale and registration volumes. EV sales gained strong momentum towards the end of the quarter with a healthy growth trajectory. The refreshed Tiago posted 16 percent YoY volume growth in Q1 FY2026 and new launches – Altroz and Harrier.ev – saw a positive market response, with their full impact expected in the coming months,” he said.

On the other hand, Tata Motors’ commercial vehicle (CV) business reported sales of 85,606 units, down 6 percent YoY for Q1 FY2026. Domestic CV sales at 79,572 units, were down 9 percent as compared to Q1 FY2025.

In June 2025 alone, total CV sales came at 30,238 units, which is 5 percent lower than June 2024. In the domestic market, the demand for Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (MH&ICV) came at 12,871 units, as against  4,640 units for the same period last year. During Q1 FY26, MH&ICV domestic sales were 37,370 units as against 40,349 units in Q1 FY25.

TATA MOTORS COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
  June '25 June '24 Change (in %) Q1 '26 Q1 '25 Change (in %)
HCV Trucks 7,359 8,891 -17% 21,735 24,690 -12%
ILMCV Trucks 4,863 4,997 -20% 14,497 13,791 -20%
Passenger Carriers 5,658 5,654 4% 15,089 14,893 9%
SCV Cargo & Pickup 10,056 11,081 1% 28,251 34,241 4%
Total CV Domestic 27,936 30,623 -9% 79,572 87,615 -9%

Girish Wagh, Executive Director, Tata Motors, said, “Q1 FY26 began on a subdued note for the commercial vehicle industry with muted performance in the HCV and SCVPU segments while buses, vans and ILMCVs registered modest year-on-year growth. Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles recorded domestic sales of 79,572 units, 9.2 percent decline compared to Q1 FY25."

"However, June 2025 witnessed a sequential growth of 8 percent over May 2025. Additionally, our International Business delivered a robust 67.9 percent growth in volumes over Q1 FY25. During the quarter, we launched India’s most affordable mini-truck, the Ace Pro, offered in petrol, bi-fuel and electric powertrains, which received an encouraging market response. We enhanced driver comfort by introducing air-conditioned cabins across our entire range of light to heavy trucks. We also expanded our international footprint by entering Egypt and expanded our offerings for the Middle East North African region,” Wagh added.

Going forward, Wagh stated that with forecasts for a healthy monsoon across the country, a reduction in repo rate and renewed thrust on infrastructure development, will bring back sales momentum for the commercial vehicles segment.

Chandra too shared his optimism for the PV market and stated, “Looking ahead, while overall industry growth is expected to remain subdued, Tata Motors is well positioned to leverage its new launches to outperform across segments—including hatchbacks and SUVs, while continuing to build on the EV momentum.”

VinFast Elevates India Head Tapan Ghosh To Oversee Operations In Indonesia

VinFast - Tapan Ghosh

Vietnamese automotive company VinFast has expanded the role of its India Chief Executive Officer, Tapan Ghosh, to oversee operations in Indonesia, uniting the company's management structure across both regional markets.

Interestingly, Ghosh becomes Chief Executive Officer for VinFast Operations across both countries, making him the first executive from India to manage multiple markets for the Vietnamese company.

Since joining the Vietnamese brand in 2025 from Hyundai Motor India, Ghosh has managed local manufacturing setups, dealership distribution expansion and product strategies. His new responsibilities will include overseeing the development of a complete knock-down (CKD) assembly operation in Indonesia.

The dual-country manufacturing and distribution setup establishes operational hubs for VinFast across South Asia and Southeast Asia, supporting its strategy to expand production beyond Vietnam.

An Cong Hui Succeeds Li Shu Fu As Chairman Of Geely, Gan Jia Yue Becomes CEO

Geely

Chinese automotive major Geely Automobile Holdings has announced changes to its board of directors and executive leadership structure, effective 18 August 2026, as part of its succession planning framework.

Li Shu Fu has resigned as Chairman of the Board and Executive Director to focus on other business commitments. He has accepted an appointment as Honorary Chairman for Life, a role outside the formal corporate governance structure. Li remains a controlling shareholder of the company and confirmed that he has no disagreement with the board regarding his departure.

On the other hand, Executive Director An Cong Hui has been appointed Chairman of the Board. The board cited An's operational experience within the group and strategic alignment with the controlling shareholder entity as factors supporting the appointment. Independent non-executive directors will continue to oversee potential conflict management protocols under Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing rules.

Further board adjustments include the resignation of Li Dong Hui, Daniel, from the role of Vice-Chairman. He retains his seat as an Executive Director. Gui Sheng Yue has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer and assumed the role of Vice Chairman while remaining an Executive Director.

Following Gui's transition, Executive Director Gan Jia Yue has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Gan assumes responsibility for managing the group's operational activities and executing long-term business objectives.

Mahindra Lifestyler

Mumbai-based automotive major Mahindra Group is preparing to test the waters of India’s nascent lifestyle pickup segment, while accelerating a deliberate international expansion and doubling down on its electric vehicle ambitions.

It was on 14th August that Mahindra took the wraps off its much-anticipated global pickup truck christened – ‘Mahindra Lifestyler’ and ‘Scorpio Lifestyler’ (for India market), based on the popular Scorpio SUV. While the technical details and pricing have still been kept under wraps, what's known is that it will be available in three variants - Trail, Valley and Reef editions. It will be launched by April 2027 with prices starting under INR 1.95 million (ex-showroom). 

R Veluswamy, President - Automotive Technology & Product Development, Mahindra Group and Nalinikanth Gollagunta, CEO, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra, outlined a strategy rooted in what they describe as latent customer demand rather than existing market size.

“The latent demand, latent need is the most important thing,” Gollagunta said. “So far what we have seen is, it’s a compromise choice they make. Because they don’t have the right product at the right price point. So, they’re making either a compromise on the capability or making a compromise on the budget.”

He added, “We believe that the latent demand for an uncompromised choice means there’s an open space for us to play.”

Veluswamy reinforced the point by recalling the original Scorpio’s arrival. “When we first saw the car, we all were blown away, but no customer had expressed that they wanted such a car. So, to say that the pickup segment is not exist may be a statement that’s not representative of the customer. They may not know how to express it. The latent desires are always understood.”

He continued: “We have seen customers who want the pickup character and who want the SUV character and who want the 4x4 character at an affordable price point. If you put all of them together, Mahindra has the deep pickup expertise. Mahindra has the deep SUV expertise; we put all of them together, and we think it will click with the customer.”

The forthcoming Scorpio-badged Lifestyler pickup was originally conceived as a global product.

“You have to remember three years ago, this was a global pickup as we call it. This was for the global market. But in three years, we have had enough indications to tell us that there’s some latent demand in this market,” Gollagunta noted.

Responding to a query on the volume expectations, Gollagunta said, “I won’t get into the volumes to be honest. The way we are looking at it is we are the third largest automotive market in the world. We believe the market is evolving and maturing and becoming a lot more sophisticated. The problem we see is there are not enough of these choices in these markets.”

Veluswamy pointed to past surprises as evidence that the right product can rewrite expectations. “How many of us thought the 9E would have such volume? And the 9S when we launched, how many of us thought that would have that volume? It clearly tells if you have the right product for the right customer needs. They don’t look at the price. They look at the value proposition.”

He added of the XUV700: “Who in the earth would have imagined that this car will be selling at 9,000 units per month. Who would have thought?”

The Scorpio brand itself is viewed as elastic enough to support the new model. “Our sense is the Scorpio brand means a lot to different people,” Gollagunta observed.

“There are a lot of customers who have a Scorpio Classic, who tell us that I will not buy a Scorpio N. A lot of Scorpio N customers say that I don’t see myself in a Scorpio Classic. Yet the market has stretched and you have two distinct segments with very loyal customers on both sides. So, it’s hard to predict right now. Our view is there’s enough elasticity in the brand today to take a price that is very distinct in itself,” he said.

Pricing has been carefully signalled rather than fixed. “I’ve given one so that now I can have conversations,” Gollagunta explained. “The starting price is less than this, we said. It’s a conversation starter for me to have conversations with customers.”

Veluswamy clarified, “The starting price is less than that. We haven’t announced the price. We have just put a number.”

When queried about the production capacity for the upcoming Lifestyler, “Every new product comes, it comes with a capacity,” Veluswamy said. “So there is a capacity for the product, and there is an operationalisation based on the demand; you operationalise the capacity.”

The vehicle will benefit from body-on-frame technology, 4x4 expertise and technologies already proven elsewhere in the range. “We are riding on that high price point SUVs, which means high technologies that we already use in our ICE and EVs. That is what we are bringing to pickup,” he noted.

Beyond India, the company is pursuing a measured three-phase global approach.

“There is a three-phase strategy. The core markets where we have a strong legacy will continue to double down. Those markets: South Africa, Australia for sure. The second wave is the other LHD markets where we think there is significant potential for us. And we have talked about UK. If we go there, we want to go there to win. And if you are not convinced we cannot win, we will be careful about doing it. I am not in a hurry because I have a core market which is doing well. But we will go out there; the difference is we now have products which are built for the globe,” Gollagunta averred.

Veluswamy provided market context: “We sold about 235,000 units last year (2025) in Australia. And about 135,000 units in South Africa. But the majority of them are these mid-size pickups. The South African market is looking for versatility. Whereas the Australian market is looking for adventure, freedom, go anywhere, towing 3.5-tonne trailers, premium upmarket. So, it is really two different markets.”

The Indian market in the recent past has seen a slew of automakers in the passenger vehicle space introduce hybrid products. For Mahindra, the message has been clear: electrification was unambiguous.

“Our focus is electric, electric, electric. That’s it,” Veluswamy declared.

Furthermore, the company had no intention to dilute its SUV focus simply to chase EV volume elsewhere. “We play in the SUV market. So wherever there is an SUV market, we bring electric. You have to see multiple parameters. It’s not one-dimensional.”

Gollagunta added that electric powertrains are already on the roadmap for future platforms: “We did have the NU_IQ we launched last year, and we said that there is going to be electric powertrains on NU_IQ. But if we do it, it has to be in a way that we believe taps into a platform architecture.”

Veluswamy highlighted the recently introduced BE6 for its intelligence layer.

“The intelligence of the car is different from intelligent driving. Naturally, it can speak to you. You can ask many questions. It is like a teacher, a tuition teacher. That is phenomenal. It understands the context, the context reasoning. It understands natural language reasoning. You do not have to be as accurate as Alexa. That is why we say it is unmatched.”

He detailed the system’s architecture: “It goes to the cloud, and it has 17 agents, and 17 agents are working in tandem. If they have to get it from the LMM, the Gemini model, then it directly gets it.”

Simple commands remain local and immediate, while contextual or knowledge-based queries draw on the cloud. “Our electric vehicle is one of the best cyber security certified. Without cybersecurity, you cannot even bring this in,” he added.

Going forward, it will be interesting to see whether the Scorpio Lifestyler remains a niche experiment or becomes another volume surprise will depend on the next six months of customer conversations.

What is already clear is that Mahindra intends to treat both the Indian opportunity and its wider global and electric ambitions with the same methodical, brand-first discipline that has underpinned its recent growth.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India’s Yogesh Mathur Calls It A Day

Yogesh Mathur

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) Director of Sales and Marketing Yogesh Mathur has exited the company after more than two decades, sources familiar with the matter have confirmed.

Mathur joined the Japanese two-wheeler major in June 2001 and rose through the ranks to become one of its longest-serving senior leaders. At the time of his departure, he held end-to-end responsibility for sales, distribution, logistics, customer service and business planning across HMSI’s network of more than 6,500 dealer and customer touchpoints nationwide. Under his oversight, the company managed annual volumes exceeding 5 million units and a turnover of approximately INR 500 billion, spanning rural, semi-urban, urban, metro, premium and electric vehicle segments

Mutsuo Usui, Director – Sales at Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, has succeeded Mathur, according to people aware of the development. The company has not issued any official statement on the leadership change.

Mathur’s career at HMSI progressed from executive roles to regional head across every geography in India, followed by stints as division head for marketing and business planning, operating head of sales and marketing, and ultimately senior-level expert. He also served on the company’s CSR Committee, Business Ethics Committee and Information Security Management System (ISMS) Committee.

As HMSI’s official spokesperson, he represented the company in national media for over five years.

At present, there are no further details on Mathur’s next move or the exact effective date of the transition were immediately available.

The move comes at a time when Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India is gearing up to unleash one of its most aggressive product launch roadmap compromising of 10 motorcycles and scooters, which includes 7 models and 3 refreshed variants.

The lineup spans internal combustion engine, electric and flex-fuel mobility, featuring models such as the ADV 160, CB 500, Rebel 300, Rebel 500, XR 300L, XR 300 Rally and QC3 EV. Production utilises local sourcing and manufacturing capabilities to support market expansion