Tata Sierra 2025The mid-size SUV Tata Sierra is the first all-new Tata Motors model to be manufactured at the company’s Sanand plant, acquired from Ford India.
The much-awaited model has been launched on Tuesday amid much fanfare at prices starting from ₹11.49 lakh, ex-showroom.
The erstwhile Ford India facility which resumed operations under Tata Motors in early 2024, will see the ground-up new model lend a boost to capacity utilisation to almost 100 per cent. The plant has an installed annual capacity of up to 330,000 units.
The manufacturing site, which adjoins Tata Motors’ existing 150,000-unit Sanand plant that produces entry-level models like the Tiago and Tigor, was so far producing the ICE and EV variants of the facelifted Tata Nexon. The company has also added a new weld shop to incorporate the completely different top hat / BIW of the Sierra into the assembly line at its second site in Gujarat.
Eyeing market share growth
The carmaker is betting big on the Sierra, positioned as a premium offering in the mid-size SUV segment, which accounts for nearly 15 per cent of the total passenger vehicle volumes in India and is dominated by products such as the Hyundai Creta and Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara.
“We wanted to give the indulgence of a high-end SUV while keeping the overall footprint optimised. Therefore, we are positioning the Sierra as a premium product within the mid-size SUV segment,” Shailesh Chandra, MD and CEO Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, told ETAuto.
“The Tata Sierra is a highly-differentiated product; we are trying to bring the best of technology and we are not a catching up player here,” he added.
Tata Motors is expecting to grow its SUV market share from the existing 16 per cent to the 20-25 per cent range with the Sierra, once the product establishes itself in the market. In FY25, the company had registered cumulative SUV volumes of 432,667 units (as per SIAM data) and in H1 FY26, it clocked 197,309 units – a marginal YoY decline of 3 per cent compared to 203,065 units in H1 FY25.
“We try to be among the Top 2 players in whichever segment we enter, and it will be the same in the Sierra’s case as well,” Chandra pointed out.
All-encompassing approach
Tata Motors has introduced the Sierra with two brand-new 1.5-litre petrol engines, along with its existing 1.5-litre, BS-VI-compliant diesel mill. The company says an EV version will follow in FY27. Armed with this multi-powertrain approach, Tata Motors looks confident to command monthly Sierra volumes to the tune of 8,000-10,000 units, which translates to about 100,000-120,000 annual units.
With the Nexon currently occupying about 1,80,000-2,20,000 of the installed 3,30,000 capacity at the second Sanand site, the Sierra is likely to drive the plant to full capacity in the coming months.
While Tata Motors had to re-tool the plant after acquiring it from Ford India to commence production of the Nexon at this site, the Sierra is its highest-scale project yet to go into this brownfield facility.
“This is our highest-scale programme in terms of the powertrains, platform, manufacturing, top hat, supplier toolings, et al. Therefore, the investments are commensurate to that,” Chandra signed off.
