Tata Motors’ (TTM) stock gains traction amid sales updates and partnership rumors

Shares of Tata Motors Ltd. (NYSE: TTM) were up 4% in morning hours on Tuesday. The stock has been making a buzz this week with the company reporting strong sales and rumors of a partnership with Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) doing the rounds. Tata’s shares have jumped over 82% in the past three months and over 34% in the past one month.

Sales updates

Tata announced that its global wholesales, including Jaguar Land Rover, rose 1% year-over-year to 278,915 vehicles in the third quarter of 2021. Global wholesales for all passenger vehicles grew 4% to 1,88,550 but for all commercial vehicles and Tata Daewoo, they dropped 4% to 90,365.

A day ago, the company’s Jaguar Land Rover unit provided an update on its retail sales for the quarter ended December 31, 2020. Sales totaled 128,469 vehicles, up 13% quarter-on-quarter but down 9% year-over-year. The company reported strong sales in China, up 20% QonQ and 19% YoY. Retail sales in other regions improved versus the previous quarter but were down compared to the year-ago period.

In the quarter, 53% of retail sales were electrified, including 6.1% all-electric, 5.5% plug-in hybrid and 41.4% mild hybrid vehicles. This brings the share of electrification to 43.3% of the company’s sales in 2020, with further growth potential in 2021 and beyond.

Partnership with Tesla?

A report from Economic Times said there were rumors that Tesla might partner with Tata Motors to manufacture and sell its vehicles in India through Tata’s facilities. It was said Tesla had conducted due diligence and found Tata’s EV infrastructure to be the best among all major automakers. However, Tata has reportedly said that it has not made any decision regarding any such partnerships.

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk had said last October that the company would come to India in 2021. In December, India’s Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Nitin Gadkari, said Tesla will start operations in the country in early 2021, according to a report by The Indian Express.

The minister had stated that Tesla would start operations with sales and then think of moving on to assembly and manufacturing based on the response to the cars.

Tesla’s shares were up 6% on Tuesday. The stock has jumped 92% over the past three months and 700% over the past one year.

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