[RedTerrano]

I am loving the look.
Sleek with lots of fenestrations to give a roomy feel.
Could be an advantage for scenic routes.

Originally Posted by Adorablejim

The two box construction of the URBANIA will support both ICE and ELECTRIC powertrains

I am confused.
Does this mean a hybrid system or you get to choose either of the powertrains?

[DicKy]

Two years after it was showcased, a soft launch at last. Since it was being delayed, assumed that they were waiting for the BS6.2/RDE norms to kick in so that they can bring back the 2.2l mill. Looks like they are continuing with the 2.6l, which again begs the question. Why can't they offer this 115bhp/350nm tune in the Gurkha?

As a fan of 90s Merc Sprinter vans, to see this here. And in the big scheme of things happy to see a vehicle that will be used ubiquitously in our roads get modern.

Though wish they launch a low roof version in the future. The SWB really could do with a little bit less height. Then again, unlike the Traveller I don't think Force motors would do the usual hack, weld, stretch = more versions with this model.

Originally Posted by condor

Yes, but you can not register it as a white-board/ private passing vehicle.

Originally Posted by condor

Seating capacity. I believe the max seating capacity allowed for private registration is 9. Earlier, 11 was the cut-off, as can be seen with the crewcab pickups like the Telcoline and Scorpio Getaway.

Sure? Thought that passenger vehicles below 8000kg or 3500kg(?) kerb weight can be registered in white plates. Or is it that one can drive these with an ordinary LMV license? Am confused here. But load bearing vehicles need their load capacity to be below the total weight of the passenghers it can carry. The Telcoline used the benches in the bed to circumvent that rule I believe, but now manufacturers can lie about the load carrying capacity to get white plates.

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Why use a different nameplate when Traveller is already a massive brand in itself? Are they trying to position this above the Traveller, keeping both on sale?...Speaking of names, I don’t know what their inspiration was, but, many people will pronounce it as the hit song from Gangs of Wasseypur - O Womaniya

True. They could very well sell this with the Traveller brand name. Urbania. Arabic speaking people will love the name. Wonder what they meant with the name. Travellers do more highway/rural/tourist place kilometres than just urban ones. So why Urbania. Add to that the trendy mobility mumbo jumbo.

[shancz]

Was immediately reminded of the Mercedes Vito plying as airport taxi in Abu Dhabi.
The "Urbania" seems like a perfect car for that usage.
IMO the Urbania would indicate a relatively plusher ride and interiors over the Traveller and they would be looking at the Urbania taking over the city focussed roles.

[rakesh_r]

I feel the Traveller will exist but to cater to material and good transportation only, maybe the Ambulance variant will also co exist. In this way Force can cater to various customers while keeping the cost at check.

[turbospooler]

Seeing the trend in Western World of living in a van (van life), I feel this is also a good option in India to do the same. However, we don't have the facilities the Western Worlds have developed for a RV focused lifestyle.

Still boggles my mind that they can stretch the monocoque to 4.4 meters!

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by turbospooler

Still boggles my mind that they can stretch the monocoque to 4.4 meters!

You are talking about the same people who stretched a small monocoque van to a literal bus of 6970mm length and widened it to a lane hogging 2225mm!!!

[Venkatesh]

Force Motors Urbania product video

https://youtu.be/T5YNh5lrNMw

[unoczar]

Of course you can register this private. See example -

https://www.drivespark.com/four-whee...ls-032356.html

[arjab]

It appears that the panoramic glass windows are fixed and un-openable.
Force may need to rework this and incorporate some openable, sliding mechanism or even a "window-in-window" / "ticket-window" type of thing, as found in many rally cars, and closer to home, in the now defunct Ashok Leyland StiLE nee Nissan Evalia.

Motion sickness is a very common phenomena and in our country with high ambient temperature & humidity it is good to have access to fresh air sometimes when on long highway cruises. Considering the length and rear overhang of the 13 and 17 seaters, chances are that rear passengers may feel queasy when pogo-ing over our less than ideal road surfaces.
The Nissan Evalia had fixed rear windows but its Ashok Leyland version had a small "ticket-window" provision.

Also the longevity, load bearing capacity and robustness of the front transverse leaf spring suspension setup needs to be evaluated carefully over time. While it does offer a superior degree of ride comfort and steering precision when compared to a rigid, leaf sprung suspension: on our rough roads particularly under load, transverse leaf spring setup's have been known to not hold the suspension geometry well and in worst cases; even fail altogether. This typically happens in a downhill scenario under full load when the vehicle hits a bump and simultaneously the driver slams the brakes - which results in a huge weight transfer over the front axles.
No doubt Force would have done the necessary CAE for the setup but it still warrants close observation.
The last vehicle to face this issue was the first generation of Ashok Leyland DOST which had tranverse leaf springs. After numerous field failures, AL finally changed to a rigid conventional underslung leaf spring setup coupled to a reverse Eliot axle.
The Tata Pickup - now known as the YODHA, which started life as the 207 then the TelcoLine - also had independent coil sprung front suspension which was changed to a rigid setup.
Agreed, load cases on LCV's are far higher than passenger applications; but the common thread seems to be that the rough and tumble of Indian roads are not very kind to suspension setup's like these. Hope the Urbania proves us wrong!

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by arjab

Force may need to rework this and incorporate some openable, sliding mechanism or even a "window-in-window" / "ticket-window" type of thing, as found in many rally cars, and closer to home, in the now defunct Ashok Leyland StiLE nee Nissan Evalia.

Looks like it does have the inset type of window. The window pane just behind the sliding door.

[G20Rider]

Looks nice, Indian market always lacked proper refined mini people carrier. I imagine this will be a good fit as a staff bus or airport shuttles etc.
I know its wishful thinking, but I would love vans like these (even a non-ac one) to be used as short intercity shared cabs. These can form a nice parellel option to normal RTC buses as Ive seen in some foreign countries. But I guess rigid RTO rules doesnt prevents any legal operations and that void is filled by shady vans which operates illegally.

[vigneshkumar31]

FORCE URBANIA PRICING REVEALED



From the pricing strategy, it appears Force wants to position it as an aspirational urban commuter for private and shared mobility above the mass market traveller.

I wonder if the fit and finish is still up there justifying the asking price, since many internal trim components seem borrowed from humbler stablemates.

[saikarthik]

Originally Posted by vigneshkumar31

FORCE URBANIA PRICING REVEALED
From the pricing strategy, it appears Force wants to position it as an aspirational urban commuter for private and shared mobility above the mass market traveller.

Interesting to see the MWB variant priced less than the SWB! Wonder what's the thought behind this, is it the popcorn strategy in movie theatres - make one product look more VFM than other, but here the price is actually less than the base variant.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by vigneshkumar31

FORCE URBANIA PRICING REVEALED

I was daydreaming of the SWB below 20 lakhs.

Originally Posted by saikarthik

Interesting to see the MWB variant priced less than the SWB! Wonder what's the thought behind this, is it the popcorn strategy in movie theatres - make one product look more VFM than other, but here the price is actually less than the base variant.

Anything to do with seating? Vehicles having 11+ seaters get CV tax rate, while below 11 seats get PV tax rate? Even then, Force could have very well slotted in one seat to take care of the tax rate.

Or maybe just a typo.

Good thing they are continuing with the Traveller.

[AntPaul]

Does the Urbania use same 2.6L engine as Traveller? Most of the Travellers i have travelled were an NVH disaster at certain rpms(must be when engine is lugged), with whole chassis vibrating aloud. Do not know if this specific to 2.2L or 2.6L engine.

Does Urbania get better rear suspension? Don't know how much the better front suspension will translate to passenger comfort.