Tata Motors Slashes Production Of Pick-Up Trucks By 17% At Pantnagar Plant

The largest commercial vehicle maker Tata Motors Ltd. has lowered production at its Pantnagar, Uttarakhand facility to 15,000 units of small pick-up trucks this month from 18,000 units last month amid sputtering sales.

With the industry facing the worst slowdown in the two decades, auto-makers are cutting down on production and dealers reducing inventor to minimise the impact.

Tata Motors’ commercial vehicles domestic sales declined 36 percent to 22,453 units in July from 34,817 units in July 2018, while small commercial vehicles and pick-ups fell 30 percent to 10,937 units in July.

“Last month, the Pantnagar plant had rolled out 18,000 vehicles. However, this month it has cut production by around 17 percent as the company plans to roll out only 15,000 units due to lower demand,” a source at the plant told PTI.

The Pantnagar facility manufactures the sub 1-tonne mini-truck Tata Ace series and Intra truck, the small commercial vehicle.

When contacted, the company said it is aligning production with actual demand amidst the falling volumes.

“As indicated earlier, external environment remains challenging, leading to demand contraction. We have aligned our production to actual demand and have accordingly adjusted the number of shifts,” Tata Motors said in a statement.

Lead by Maruti-Suzuki, the automobile manufacturers have cut production by 11 percent in the April-June period due to the plummeting volumes which began almost a year ago.

In the commercial vehicle segment, the top two players--Tata Motors and Mahindra-cut production by 12 percent and 25 percent respectively, due to high inventory levels, which jumped to 55-60 days in June from 45-50 days in May, according to an India Ratings report last week.