History of Tata Motors
- Founded in 1945 named as Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO)
- The company manufactured its first commercial vehicle in 1954 in collaboration with Daimler-Benz AG.
- In 1991, tata motors entered in passenger vehicle market by launching the car “Tata Sierra” sport utility vehicle (SUV).
- In 1998, tata motors launched the first fully indigenous Indian passenger car “Tata Indica”.
- In 2008, tata motors launched the world’s most affordable car “Tata Nano”.
- In 2004, Tata Motors acquired Daewoo’s South Korea-based truck manufacturing unit, Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company, which later renamed as “Tata Daewoo”.
- On 27th September 2004, the tata motors got listed in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
- In 2005, tata motors acquired 21% stake in Spanish bus and coach manufacturer Hispano Carrocera and in 2009, took remaining 79% stake of the same and the company was renamed as “Tata Hispano Motors Carrocera, S.A”
- In 2006, Tata motors formed a joint venture with the a Brazil-based Marcopolo, Tata Marcopolo Bus, to manufacture fully built buses and coaches.
- In 2008, Tata Motors acquired the English car maker company Jaguar Land Rover, manufacturer of the Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Company.
- In 2013, tata motors announced to launch their first vehicle which runs on compressed air “Tata Minicat”
R&D Centers
India is the biggest invention center for Tata Motors. Almost all the patents filed by Tata motors bears the priority of patent application filed in India.
This shows nearly all the research & development is done in India for the major markets of the Tata motors like South Africa, Latin America, Middle east, and Asia Pacific markets as indicated by patent publications shown in next chart.
Top Inventors in Tata Motor’s
Deepak S. Kulkarni and Dattatraya R. Katkar are the most prolific inventors of Tata motors with highest number of inventions filed till date.
Deepak S. Kulkarni has 29 inventions and Dattatraya R. Katkar has 26 inventions patented to their name, out of which 20 patents are shared by both as an inventor.
The first Patent of Deepak S. Kulkarni and Dattatraya R. Katkar as inventors was filed in 2007 which was co-shared by both as an inventor.
Maximum R&D in these technologies
The graph shows the top categories of Technology inventions filed by the Tata Motors over the years.
The most significant one is the invention related to the batteries. Tata motors filed most Patents related to the batteries in year 2019 which was spiked (20 patents) in that year compared to the previous year 2018(2).
Further, there seems growth in patents related to the arrangement or mounting of propulsion units and vehicle fittings or vehicle parts.
Top Competitor’s
The graph shows the top competitors of Tata Motors by patent filing trends related to motor vehicle technologies.
Suzuki Motors and Honda Motors are filing the highest number of patents in the same class in which Tata motors has the highest number of patents. Whereas, there is a vast difference in the number of applications between Tata motors and Suzuki, and Honda motors.
Even Tata motor’s Indian counterpart Mahindra & Mahindra shows a significant growth in the patent filings related to motor vehicles (class-B62D).
The graph shows the top competitors of Tata Motors by patent filing trend related to the arrangement or mounting of propulsion units or transmission vehicles.
Suzuki Motors and Honda Motors, Toyota Motors, and Daimler Benz are filing the highest number of patents in the same class in which Tata motors has the second-highest number of patents. Whereas, there is a vast difference in the number of patent applications between Tata motors and mentioned competitors.
Top Competitors in Electric Vehicles
The graph shows the top applicants filing patents for inventions related to the Electric vehicle (IPC class code-B60L) in India.
Honda motors are consistently filing patents related to electric vehicles in India for the last few years.
Similarly, Suzuki motors are filing patents related to the electric vehicle. Until 2013, Suzuki motors was one of the top applicants, but patent filing declined from 2015 to 2019 and again increased in the last couple of years (2020-2021).
At the same time, Tata motors seem far behind in patent filings related to electric vehicles compared to top applicants in India.
Tata motors are having very few patents related to the propulsion of electrically-propelled vehicles compared to competitors but inventions related to batteries of the vehicles are one of the top invention categories (as shown in the top technologies table) of Tata motors.
