[fz_rider]

Tata Indica EV

The most keenly awaited electric car from the Tata Motors stable, the Indica Vista EV, will go into commercial production from the first quarter of 2011, said a senior official with Tata Motors European Research Centre (TMERC).

Speaking at the SME conference organised by the Indian High Commission, Omar Hadded, director of marketing and commercialisation with TMERC said Vista EV will be targeted at international markets like the UK.

The price of Vista EV will benchmarked with industry standards and retailed at around £29,000, while the ACE EV will be priced at around £13,000-14,000. The Vista EV will get a UK government subsidy of £5,000 and would cost the end customer £24,000.

The electric version of an established car has been created in record time, considering Indica was first rolled out in 1998, until which Tata Motors had never made passenger vehicles. The TMERC was created only five years back, in part to fulfil the group’s commitment to produce environmentally friendly vehicles.

Vista EV will be a four seater with provision for luggage and will have a maximum speed of 70 miles an hour or around 110 kmph. It will meet all intertional safety standards with ABS and Li-ion super polymer batteries and a range of 160 km to run without recharge. Full recharge will be possible in eight hours.

The Vista EV had won two awards last weekend among future cars between Brighton (south of UK) and London for being the most economic passenger electric vehicles.

More Nano Variants , Smaller/ Compact , Cheaper JAG

Tata Motors has an innovative plan, under which it will build upgraded versions of the Nano with larger engines and higher price tags. For Jaguar, the journey will be in the opposite direction: the marquee brand will have smaller engines and lower price tags.
Tata Motors Managing Director & CEO Carl-Peter Forster told Business Standard that the company would not be doing the Nano justice if it remains just the “world’s cheapest car” and, hence, will look at all the “natural evolutions” of the Nano, including upgrades.

“While pushing the Nano as the cheapest car, its other values have been overlooked. It is an engineering marvel; it’s spacious, fuel efficient and has an interesting price-value equation. So, we will offer a wider range of options to our customers,” said Forster.

Elaborating on a smaller Jaguar, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) CEO Ralf Speth said price-sensitive models are necessary to attract younger buyers. The company is already working on models with 2-litre engines, instead of the current minimum 2.2 litres. These will be launched shortly, but the plan is to go down the price ladder further so that the car is available for new customer groups.

No decision has yet been taken whether these smaller Jaguar cars will be made in India. “The location isn’t important as long as we can protect the quality of brand Jaguar,” Speth said.

The plan also identifies global competitive benchmarks, which JLR has to match if not beat in terms of cost and efficiency at multiple locations around the world.

Both Jaguar and Land Rover portfolios will expand through a series of new segment entries that build on their design, performance and technology capabilities.

A new generation of lightweight sedans, sports cars and premium SUVs, with hybrids and electrification technology, will also significantly reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

On the availability of the Nano in overseas markets, Forster said the company will decide by next year in which countries the car would be manufactured. “We are looking at larger developing markets except China. In some of them, we will require government support and might go with a partner,” Forster said.

Forster acknowledged that Tata Motors’ biggest challenge now is to ensure the Nano is available to those for whom it was made in the first place. The car is available today without booking and will be available off the shelf by the end of this financial year.

The company is also talking with local financiers who know customers better. “We are learning as we go. We need different ways of marketing the car for customers, some of whom have never been inside a car,” added Forster.

The company is setting up touch points in small outlets, where customers can see and feel the car and get finance at reasonable rates. Forster acknowledged that the company will have to aggressively act as a bridge between financing agencies and Nano customers.

Ruling out the possibility of putting the Tata name on Jaguar cars as unnecessary, Forster said there are numerous areas where Tata Motors and JLR can work together. These could be common technology projects for JLR at the lower end and for Tata Motors at the upper end, electrification of power-trains, low-cost sourcing of components and common engine development. While there won’t be development of common platforms, the two brands can work on common car modules.

Source : BSM

[fz_rider]

+
Autocar reports , 7 seater MPV based on Manza platform is in development stage .
And there's a buzz on the internet regarding Manza CS in pipeline !

[da_lowrider]

Don't know if this has been posted before (well couldn't find anything on the forum), Tata Motors' Wikipedia page seems like it is constantly updated by Tata Motors, now I know that Wikipedia isn't the most reliable source, but in most cases the information there is genuine, this was listed under passenger cars:

Passenger cars and utility vehicles
Tata Pratul

and this under concept vehicles:
Concept vehicles

• 2009 Tata Pr1ma
• 2010 Tata Versa
• 2010 Tata Essota

now the Tata Versa really does sound like it would be a Manza based MPV, but you never know, anyways here's the link:
Tata Motors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[volkman10]

Tata to launch facelift of three products on 19th of June.

Tata Motors will launch the facelift version of the Sumo Gold, Indigo eCS and even the Nano. There will also be another variant that will be a fully kitted Tata Safari Storme, which will be for those who like to go off-roading.

http://www.cardekho.com/india-car-ne...june-10520.htm

[rahul4321]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Tata to launch facelift of three products on 19th of June.




http://www.cardekho.com/india-car-ne...june-10520.htm

I spotted an updated version of the Tata Venture on Test yesterday on the NE1 connecting Ahmedabad and Baroda. The driver of the car wasnt too happy about the fact that i was taking pictures of the car and waved me to pass him and go ahead. New Engine launch possibly as one of the 3 new launches on the 19th of June?

[volkman10]

Tata Motors planning two SUVs with Land Rover inputs

[volkman10]

Tata Motors Chief alerts employees of crisis-like situation; stretches target for FY18.

This means that it will not be business as usual; it needs disruption. It requires a single minded obsession to deliver excellence and win back our leadership in the market place

Closing FY-17 with a loss of Rs 2480 crore for the standalone entity, Butschek informed employees that with an extremely difficult start in the new fiscal year, he is writing to them with "utmost sense of urgency

Link

[NaXal]

Is TATA really doing bad compare to others ?

As per June PV sales data, I see they are at 5th position with 5.73% market share. If we leave out Maruti/Hyundai, this 5.73% figure isn't that bad compare to No.3 (7.71%) and No.4 (6.57%).

TATA didn't have too many failure either. Aria/Nano were something may be called failure but Aria platform was reused again (Storm and Hexa?).

As per the article, in CV segment TATA is pretty much ruling with close to 43% market share.

So what is causing this explosive loss and crisis ?

[S.MJet]

Originally Posted by NaXal

As per the article, in CV segment TATA is pretty much ruling with close to 43% market share.

So what is causing this explosive loss and crisis ?

No doubt they are the market leaders in CV business but few years back they were leaders by a healthy margin but now on a continuous downward trend.

IIRC Tata CV division had more than 55% market share around 2-3 years back.

[amrutmhatre90]

Some Updates on Tata's future plans

"Tata Motors challenged CV biz to benefit from modular platforms. Will reduce complexity, increase flexibility. More products, lower costs.

First car on TataMotors AMP platform expected in 2019. Will be premium hatch (X451) Initial investment Rs 2500 cr.

With AMP platform TataMotors to cut no of suppliers from 200 to under 100.

"We have been far to complacent" admits Guenter Butschek MD TataMotors. Promises much more focus to turn around CV biz around.

Turnaround at TataMotors has '3 angles of attack' 1) Cost Control 2) Fill product gaps 3) Supply Chain strategy.

'Connecting Aspirations' New tag line for @TataMotors brand. Now the work begins to live up to it.

It's officially confirmed! TataMotors 'will launch all-new 5 & 7-seater SUVs' in FY 2018-19 says MD Guenter Butschek.

Nexon will be launched in Sept says TataMotors. Will be last of 'bridge products' or those on legacy platforms."

Source: https://twitter.com/hormazdsorabjee]

[Latheesh]

Just had a look at Tata Motors twitter page. I see more kabaddi messages than auto related posts/messages. They say they are going to launch Nexon soon, Is it Nexon kabaddi team?

[simplyself]

After the launch of Nexon it seems there are no new launches planned in immediate future.

Tata urgently needs a proper sedan, to replace Manza. Also, Tata needs to address concerns about the underpowered engine. Especially when Zest is going the taxi way. Ofcourse, a facelifted Zest sticking with 90 hp diesel or with the new Nexon engine would be better, so as to visually differentiate it from taxi siblings.