[MaserQ]

Stars of the show, undoubtedly. The Bolt and the Zest are a huge step forward, the Nexon concept teases, the mini-monster-truck Storme Ladakh is a riot, the Concept Next could point to a future MPV (or maybe not) and a special mention for the AVN system. Gone are the days of slap-on OEM head units. Mighty impressive I'd say!

Great coverage too, thanks!

[Coolman]

• Storme Ladakh - butch you said, butch it is!
• Bolt hatchback - really pleasing to see the X-mas lights gone and the 15 year old tailgate design changed. The new one looks quite refreshing!
• Zest Compact Sedan - from the outside a job very neatly done, proportionate as it can be for a sub-4-meter sedan! I truly hope the Bolt and Zest find success this time!
• Nexon Compact SUV - the seating reminds me of the Hyundai's SUV Concept that was showcased in the last Expo.

Thank you very much GTO for the great pictures and the notes !!!

Thanks,
C_

The Tatas generally get their pricing right, except for what they did to the Aria. Hoping that the Bolt and the Zest help them regain some lost ground!

Do they not have plans to refresh the Aria?

[Roomy]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

. I mean cars have been having the 4 roof mounted lights in India for a decade

Aren't these light illegal? I am under the impression that any lights above the eye level of a normal man is outlawed currently.

[safari_lover]

Thanks for sharing these wonderful pics GTO. Did you not take any pics of the Nano Twist Active? It looked good from the images on Tata Motors website, sporting a new grill.

Any timelines suggested for the launch of the newer variants of the Nano?

[Mahesh Prasad]

Thanks GTO for the excellent coverage. TATA have impressed in this year's Auto Expo.
Even I was expecting the Bolt & Zest to be the centerpieces, but Gosh! the Storme Ladakh edition took everyone by storm. The interiors of the new Zest & Bolt look best in class. And the AVN system is truly awesome.
Kudos to TATA.

[aniketi]

Originally Posted by GTO

A look at the Tata Motor's Pavilion.

Don't know the message that Tata's trying to send out, but there was no Aria, Manza, Vista etc. on display

Right move in my opinion. Aria is a flop, Vista and Manza are quite old now. Then why display them? So better not to put them in the Expo. Also it suggests that those cars will not be in market for long, at least current models. I guess its the correct way. Just display all your new cars and the upcoming ( concept ) cars, right way to do it

Seeing most of the launches, i guess only Tata and Maruti are very serious about the Auto expo 2014. Others seems to be not interested much. Almost nothing new from VW, Toyota has only Corolla to show, Ford has facelift of Fiesta (which is flop before launch), Nissan just had facelift of Sunny. I am really surprised by this. Hyundai also has mainly i10 grand sedan only, which is not a big surprise at all. Mahindra was also a major disappointment. Almost nothing from them as well. From rest of the others, only Honda and Renault has some offerings on the display. Why is this? Are manufacturers not interested in the Auto Expo?

[CARDEEP]

Pics of Nano Twist Active (with openable hatch):

[tushky]

The front face of Nano active is bad. i mean there is no cuteness at all.current nano face is the cutest. please tata, remove that black strip from the front.

[torquecurve]

The Storme Ladakh - Amazing - Already I see 'modders' scrambling to get their hands on a fibreglass mould for this
I somewhat liked the Sumo, to me it shows what this vehicle is - NO Nonsense, in your face, Butch - put the Safari 2.2 into this and it turns into an offroad beast!.

The Zest or Bolt will probably be my next car (touch wood)!

[kailashnj]

1+ for the Safari Ladakh edition. Nice to see that Tata is experimenting on its existing line up too. Which shows commitment to its product.

I am really interested in the Zest with AMT. Hope fully it will be a VFM car and if priced somewhere near or lower the ZDI Dzire, it will be a killer car to own. Hope fully TATA will do a good job with pricing as always.

[nikhil_d1106]

The Storme Ladakh edition looks good. The Bolt looks reminiscent to the Vista. Thank god the tail lamp is different..

[sharadmumbai]

Looks like Tata doesn't want to look like a Tata anymore.
Great to see much superior design and overall quality and interiors will age well.
They have realised that just having cheap diesel car is no longer sufficient to get the numbers.
Good luck to them

[NiInJa]

Really liked the design of Storme Ladakh, but equally disappointed with Nano Twist Active's front, even the bumper is designed badly in my opinion.

Forgive my ignorance as I've never 'felt' a concept car before, but can someone tell me what material the car's body shell (concept cars) is made up of ? As in, Fibre or metal and how do they manufacture such body shells for one car which may or may not go to production ? They definitely wont have dedicated machines for making such cars, or do they ?

A big thumbs-up to Team-bhp and GTO (for this thread) for covering the Auto Expo so thoroughly. Didn't find any other website so detailed in covering the expo.

[GrammarNazi]

First off, kudos to the admin team for this detailed organised explanation. Truly this is THE place for anyone to see company-wise info & updates. Yet again, enthusiasts have done a better job than anyone else covering the expo. The sheer traffic is probably causing the website to slow-down!

1.2 Revotron : It may be the modified version of an old iron block, but its India's First in-house developed water-cooled turbo-petrol engine that's going into mass production. They say they've tuned it for drivability, but I hope they've got some reasonable FE figures. A water cooled turbo will save the heartburn when someone switches off oil-cooled turbos as soon as you reach the destination. 99% of people I know don't/won't follow any "1 minute idling rule".

Automated-Manual Transmission : I guess this is being sourced from Magneti Marelli (?). A cost-efficient solution that enthusiasts would LOVE. Retaining the stick-shift while eliminating the clutch would not only be more appealing to drive, but would also churn out better fuel economy due to less transmission losses(?) during gear changes. This should extend the clutch life we normally get.

Dry-Clutch Plate (?): I don't understand this concept or its advantages. Would be grateful if someone explained in layman's terms.

Bolt/Zest : Excellent interiors. I find the instrument cluster just a small notch below the Skoda Superb! The music system seriously looks upmarket. Definitely from a segment above. Harmon Kardon is said to have worked for the audio, and that says ALOT! Looking at the functionality, it sometimes makes me wonder which segment is TATA planning to sell these cars in!

Exteriors have been improved drastically! THIS is what's called a Mid-Life face-lift. Its going to revive the brand altogether! Its NOT whats often passed off as updates. Its a massive leap ahead in terms of design. Kudos to the design team. The Zest is rather proportionate for a <4m sedan.

Just last year they'd launched the VistaD90, and within 1 year, they've been able to make these amazing changes shows the amount of dedication they've put into re-doing the whole car altogether!

Good to also see some basic HMI (Human Machine Interface) implementation in the cars, segment firsts, these.

Overall, everyone is in awe of Tata Motors' work this year.

Hope they clear the ambiguity over the rear suspension in the bolt. The Press release says Independent-3 link-McPherson Struts whereas the website doesn't say so.

Why doesn't the Bolt get AMT? Why only Zest? Don't they think that people with hatchbacks in the city need it?

Aria(?) : Info about its update was circulated widely among TaMo employees, wonder what happened!

Also, they've supposedly partnered with Samsung to take ahead their ConnectNext strategy. Hope that yields some good results.

Nano Active : Honestly, they've ruined the simple front design. It looks creepy IMO! lol They fix one thing (Hatch Door), and ruin another! Anyway, looks are subjective. Hope they'd be able to give it the AMT by next year? Btw, can they turbo-charge the Nano engine too!? :P

[rock75]

I hope the Nano active twist comes with a 3 cylinder petrol which has better NVH, along with the AMT and better interiors even if it is around 2.75-3 lacs max.

I loved the Nexon concept and if properly executed with bolt like interiors and a 100 bhp+ revotron engine and 1.3 litre fiat engine with VGT and the weight be kept around Zest (Tatas usually make heavier vehicles!) it can certainly fetch good numbers.

Anyways Tata's have shown they are back in business in India, only if they had acted quicker in last 5 years!

On a side note, I am wondering how much things have changed in the Indian automobile industry in a last year or so, competition is going to be cut throat and product life cycle is going to be shorter and customer is going to benefit all the way with newer and better products.