Introduction

The topic for our project report is TATA ACE, which falls under mini truck industry segment. The small
truck segment in India is an extremely price sensitive one. So the customers choose to transport their
goods from the third party instead of using their own vehicles. The actors who directly serve the
customers are the trucking or the agents, who are supported by the Truck companies. And these actors are
supported by four entities- manufacturers, truck body builders, drivers and fuel suppliers. This makes the
truck Industry mostly B2B focused. The light commercial vehicle in India had a demand of 400,000 units.

In the first quarter of FY18, the mini-truck segment rose by 9% to 29,680 units, while pickup sales
expanded even faster at about 17% to 52,716 units. However, the nearest competitor, Mahindra is
growing faster as compared to TATA. The market share of Mahindra in 2017 was 42% while that of
TATA was 38.1%.

Introduced in 2005, TATA ACE is the India’s first mini truck. It is one of the most sought after mini-
truck in India and has grip over a majority of small scale businesses. Every 4th commercial vehicle sold in
India is TATA ace. Almost 60% of the buyers are semi-educated youth (First-Time user) who have
passenger transport operations with the vehicles. Recently, TATA Ace has launched the updated version
called Ace gold in the country, adding a new premium variant to the line-up.
2. How can the process of gaining of new business be improved? What are the current challenges?
TATA Ace was the first mini-truck launched in the Indian market. It is one of the most sought after mini-
truck in India. Although, Ace has the maximum market share in the mini-truck category (31.7%), there
are a few challenges that Ace has been facing. These are the few points that’s causing Mahindra jeeto
gain about 20% market share in just 2 years’ time:

 Mahindra Jeeto has a starting price of 2.32 lacs while Ace’s starting price is 2.92 lacs
 Jeeto has 8 variants which addresses different customers need while Ace comes in a single
model. Only recently they launched an upgraded version called Ace
 Jeeto offers best-in-class mileage which is 37.6 while the mileage offered by Ace is 21.9
 Jeeto provides car like comfort while Ace is more like a truck
The process of gaining more business can be improved by creating superior value as compared to
competitors.