How partnering with IPL boosted bookings and awareness for Tata Tiago EV

Vivek Srivatsa, head, marketing, sales and service strategy, Tata passenger electric mobility talks about the brand’s association with IPL this year.

The Electric Vehicle category is at a nascent stage in India however, is set to grow exponentially with newer players entering and growing in the space. In 2020, Tata Motors, one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the country, entered the category with Nexon EV. The company within a short span of three years has captured more than 80% of the total EV market in the country.

Vivek Srivatsa, head, marketing, sales and service strategy, Tata passenger electric mobility says, they are now focusing on making EVs a mainstream. The company since 2020 has since launched three passenger E-cars. Srivatsa says their portfolio as well as their numbers have grown. 

The brand launched  Tiago EV in September last year and leveraged the 2023 IPL to drive the brand’s growth. Tata Tiago was the official partner of Tata IPL 2023 continuing Tata’s legacy with IPL. 

Speaking about how the IPL has fared for them, Srivatsa says, “Tata Motors has been associated with IPL for six years and we have a good experience in terms of the benefit that the property offers.  Every year it's becoming bigger and bigger in terms of reach and gets deeper into Indian geography and is relevant across multiple regions. We had very ambitious expectations of what the IPL can give us and I would say it has met our expectations.”

The brand had two main objectives to meet with the IPL association- To drive up sales for Tiago and to disperse rumors/ myths around EV’s. They came up with a series of ads to address these concerns.

“Awareness about Tiago has really gone up and our bookings have shot up. More importantly with the campaign we dispelled a lot of doubts that the potential customers had about EVs and we expect the IPL effect to continue,” says Srivatsa. 

According to him, marketing EVs is a challenging task given how new the industry is. However, as a market leader they also want to focus on growing the category. Asked how the brand will make sure that their EVs become as much as a household name as their traditional vehicles, Srivatsa says, “We are a household name in the EV space but we will continue to launch newer products and participate in mega media events and play the role of a leader by dispelling myths.”

Talking about how much do EVs contribute to the the overall growth of Tata Motors, Srivatsa states, EV’s currently hold a 10-12% share in their total sales. “By 2025 we anticipate almost 25% of our sales coming from EVs. In the long term by 2030 we expect 50% of our sales coming from EVs.”