Tata Ace crosses 1-lakh sales mark

Tata Motors said on Tuesday its mini truck Ace has crossed 1-lakh sales in the domestic market in 2009-10, claiming that it became the first goods commercial vehicle brand to achieve the feat in a single year.

"In 2009-10, the sales of the Tata Ace crossed the 1 lakh mark to reach 1,10,032 units. It has thus become India's only goods commercial vehicle to achieve the milestone," Tata Motors said.

The company sells four different variants of Ace in the Indian market.

The Ace was launched in May 2005 as a mini-truck with a sub-one tonne payload. During 2005-06, the vehicle recorded sales of about 30,000 units.

The following year saw the sales of the model growing by more than double to over 70,000 units.

However, due to downturn, Ace's sales declined to a little over 81,000 units in 2008-09 from about 89,000 units in 2007-08.

The company also exports the goods carrier to a few neighbouring countries, including Nepal and Sri Lanka. In 2007, Tata Motors had launched a passenger carrier Magic, developed on the Ace platform.

"The Tata Magic too is recording strong adoption in semi-urban and rural areas, and in 2009-10 its sales have touched close to 49,000 units, a growth of 71 per cent over the previous year," the statement said.

The sales of Ace and Magic together have crossed 1,50,000 units in 2009-10.