MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Tata Motors managing director Guenter Butschek has told employees in an impassioned letter that India’s biggest truck maker is in a “crisis situation” at present, and that their collective focus must shift from a “transformation journey to a turnaround ambition.”Writing to employees this week with what he described as the “utmost sense of urgency,” the head of the country’s biggest manufacturer of commercial vehicles singled out the division’s lacklustre performance for immediate corrective action.“The performance of the CV business, which is the backbone of our company in terms of profitability and revenue, is really worrisome, as we have lost market share in all segments,” Butschek said in the note, which ended with a reminder to his colleagues that “it is time to deliver.”For the standalone entity, Mumbai-based Tata Motors closed FY17 with a loss of Rs 2,480 crore. The new fiscal year has also got off to an “extremely difficult start,” Butschek said, referring to the company’s muted truck sales performance offsetting the “early green shoots” visible in the car business.In FY17, Tata Motors’ commercial vehicle volumes increased by only 0.8%.Compared to this, the broader industry growth at 4%.Butschek called this dismal growth of the company “not a hallmark of a leader.”Part of the $100-billion-plus Tata Group , the automotive company also owns the Jaguar and Land Rover brands. Tata Motors’ domestic mainstay is the commercial vehicles business, the fortunes of which are generally linked to economic cycles. “Our business plan is going to be extremely demanding with stretched targets, in terms of sales/market share and financial performance,” said the MD.Tata Motors has set an extremely aggressive and challenging task of improving the bottom line, firmly committed to our chairman and the board, he said.“This means that it will not be business as usual; it needs disruption. It requires a single minded obsession to deliver excellence and win back our leadership in the market place,” Butschek said.

Source: Economic Times July 14, 2017 19:32 UTC