Tata Motors to showcase 3 refreshed cars by June 2013 end

2008 was the year in which Tata Motors acquired Jaguar-Land Rover, a British luxury car and SUV brand that was in the doldrums. At around the same time, Tata Motors' fortunes in India were on the upswing, with the brand's visibility at an all time high globally, partly thanks to JLR and partly due to the Tata Nano, the world's least priced car. Half a decade later, the tables have turned, and quite dramatically at that. Tata Motors finds itself generating most if not all of its profits from Jaguar-Land Rover even as Tata's domestic car and commercial vehicle making divisions are making losses. Tata Motors' new Managing Director, an ex-GM hand, Mr Karl Slym, is at the forefront of scripting a turnaround for the Indian car and CV maker. 

The turnaround plan for Tata Motors' car division primarily includes a two pronged strategy. For the short term(1-2 years), Tata Motors plans to infuse a dash of excitement and freshness into its existing product range through facelifts of its cars. In the medium and long term(3-5 years), Tata Motors will revamp its entire car and SUV range with high quality offerings, all of them keyed to change Tata Motors' image and attract buyers who had hitherto stayed away from the brand. Next month, Tata Motors will showcase the first prong of its near term strategy by unveiling no less than three facelifted cars. According to AutoCarPro, these cars will be showcased by the end of June 2013, and are expected to give Tata Motors' car division a shot in the arm in the run up to the Indian festive season. 

Putting the pieces of the puzzle together, two of the three new cars that Tata Motors could showcase in June 2013 are expected to include the refreshed Nano and CNG powered Nano, and the the Tata Indigo eCS Facelift. All these cars have been spotted doing the testing rounds in and around Pune numerous times. The facelifted 2013 Nano is expected to get a host of improvements over the 2012 Nano. Most of these improvements are evolutionary, with many changes being incorporated in tune with customer feedback. The long list of changes, as detailed by Team-Bhpian Arjab, can be viewed here. To summarize, the 2013 Nano will get updated looks in terms of new front and rear bumpers, and new colours. On the inside, features such as integrated glove boxes, an under seat storage bin and integrated front speakers will be added. 

These features are expected to be carried over to the Nano CNG, a car that is yet to hit the market, after being first showcased at the 2012 Indian Auto Expo. The 2013 Nano CNG is aimed at city hatchback buyers looking for a cost effective means of transport as CNG is cheaper than both petrol and diesel. The other car that is all set to get a facelift is the Indigo eCS compact sedan. With the compact sedan market in India hotting up with the arrival of the Honda Amaze, the car that started it all by spawning the compact sedan segment, the Indigo eCS, will see yet another makeover. Changes to the Indigo eCS will be in terms of revamped design elements on the outside and tweaked interiors on the inside. A few new features are also expected to be added to the 2013 Indigo eCS facelift. 

The third facelifted car that Tata Motors could showcase in June 2013 is expected to be the Sumo Gold. Ever since it lost its leadership position in India to the Toyota Qualis MUV many summers ago, the Sumo has never really managed to top sales charts as the Mahindra  Bolero has now captured the lion's share of the Indian MUV market, in both urban and rural sectors. So there, the Sumo Gold, 2013 Nano and the Indigo eCS might be what Tata Motors has lined up for showcasing by the end of June 2013. It'll be interesting to see if these facelifts actually manage to capture the attention of the car buyer.