Tata Motors open to hybrids if market demands — says Shailesh Chandra

In the ever evolving automotive market space, we have seen Mahindra and Tata Motors—two home-grown automotive giants—to swiftly move to electric mobility. Tata Motors has been the leader in the Indian EV landscape but its first mover advantage is slowly diminishing against growing competition. As a result, the carmaker is now giving hybrid technology a thought and is open to offer hybrid cars, if the market demands.

Tata Motors open to offering hybrids if there is demand

In a recent interaction with Autocar India, Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director of Tata Motors said, “We will be hoping to use the technology to deliver value to the customer and obviously it [hybrids] would be under consideration for different products at different points in time”. He further added, “If competitiveness requires us in certain segments to bring hybrid, we’ll bring it. It might not be just because of emission reasons, but performance reasons also”. 

Also Read: Tata Harrier EV variants explained in detail — Price, specs, features, colours, & more

Tata Motors internal powertrain-split forecast contains 30% of sales from EVs, 27% from CNG, 6-10% from diesel and the remaining from petrol—including hybrids. However, Tata Motors is yet to reveal its plans for the hybrid models that are in the pipeline or any concept models showing its hybrid powertrain capabilities. Based on the interaction, we can understand that if Tata Motors will come with hybrids, it would be an action pertaining to the market response and not a part of its roadmap in the near future.

Hybrid subsidies slowing down EV adoption

States like Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka are offering or considering tax benefits for hybrid vehicles, aiming to bring them on par with electric vehicles (EVs) in terms of fiscal incentives. Uttar Pradesh has already waived the registration tax on hybrids, while Karnataka is reportedly evaluating similar steps. However, Tata Motors MD Shailesh Chandra has expressed concerns, arguing that hybrids are already commercially viable and do not need subsidies. He believes that these incentives distort the market and hinder EV growth. Citing data, Chandra pointed out that in one state where hybrid subsidies were introduced, EV penetration stagnated at 1.5%, while the national average nearly doubled from 2.5% to 4% during the same period.

Chandra highlighted that despite the launch of several new EV models, EV adoption hasn’t grown as expected—while hybrids, with fewer models, have increased their market share from under 1% to around 2.5%, largely due to tax benefits. He warned that such “extra-ordinary benefits” for hybrids could dilute the policy push for full electrification. According to him, government incentives should focus on “destination technologies” like EVs, which still face adoption barriers, rather than mature technologies like hybrids that are gaining artificially improved competitiveness through subsidies.

Also Read: Tata Harrier EV RWD vs Mahindra XEV 9e price and specs comparison

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