Earlier this week, Tata Motors announced the launch of a new brand exclusively for its fleet customers.

The ‘XPRES’ brand, as it was called, would enable the company to introduce offerings, catering to fleet specific needs of safety, passenger comfort and low cost of ownership.

All vehicles for the fleet segment would sport XPRES badge, clearly differentiating them from the models that cater to the requirements of the personal segment.

The auto major added that the first vehicle under the XPRES brand will be the soon to be launched electric sedan, the ‘XPRES-T’.

This is not the first time the company is launching a separate brand for the trade. But this is a lesson from the past.

Nearly two decades back, the company saw that its Indica was becoming a favourite of the cab drivers — especially cool cabs. As a result, the brand was taking a knock in the consideration set of households.

The brand will focus on offering fleet specific needs of safety, comfort and cost…

To be sure, this happens often, particularly in the category of mobility. Fiat has seen this happen with its Premier Padmini. Or even the humble, yet sturdy, Hercules bicycle was often labelled as the cycle of the milkman.

Back then, Tata Motors had attempted to solve the problem by introducing a sub brand for the trade. While the shell of the car would be similar, there would be cosmetic changes in the exterior. For example, the tail lamps of the car for fleet owners was changed, to cite just one instance.

But even this strategy isn’t fool proof. While families might usually not buy the car meant for fleets, there is no guarantee that a fleet owner might not buy the model created for households.

The first model to be introduced under the new badge will be the re-branded Tigor EV which will now be called the ‘XPRES-T’ EV.

The big question that now stares all brands in the faces is how to attract and retain consumers and inspire loyalty ?…

To be sure, most top selling car brands globally are also the favourites of fleet owners. In the US for example, Hyundai Accent, Chevrolet Spark or a Toyota Prius would also be the favoured cars by fleets, so would an Audi, a BMW or a Mercedes at the top end.

There’s no way that a brand can escape becoming the favourite of fleets. In fact, it can turn it into an advantage. After all, several studies have shown that personal cars lie in the parking lot 95 percent of the time.

The fleet car is a true test of the car’s performance and can give a great deal of insight to both customers and the company’s R&D teams about the short term and long term performance of the vehicles. This is a goldmine of information if you consider that the fleet customer is operating in real world conditions.

Certainly, the future belongs to the fleet-footed. Even if the foot, in this case, takes the shape of wheels.

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