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Tata Motors has been one of the leading automotive manufacturers in India with a fair share in the passenger car segment as well as the commercial vehicle market. Tata Motors acquired Jaguar and Land-Rover in 2008 and entered the luxury car segment globally. In spite of being able to turn JLR profitable, Tata Motors has consistently lost ground on its home turf which makes the year 2014 crucial for the Indian automaker.
Tata Motors is betting big on the Falcon-4 and Falcon-5 along with the all-new ‘Revotron’ engines – the 1.2 litre turbocharged petrol motors - to regain foothold in the highest selling car segment in India. The duo will be gracing the Tata pavilion at the expo.
The Falcon 4 is a hatchback and is expected to replace the Indica Vista. The F4 may probably be called the ‘Bolt’ which, for us, is a welcome change from the Indica lineage that invariably takes the car closer to the cab market. The F4 will carry design lines from its predecessor, but, the new fascia should help it carve out a new identity.
The Falcon 5 is a compact sedan which will mostly be the ‘Manza CS’ and will be positioned slightly above the Indigo ECS along with the Indigo sedan. The Falcon series will be powered by the new Revotron series petrol and the current 1.3-litre Multijet diesel engine. The compnay is pretty tight-lipped about its appearance.
Along with these two stars, Tata is also set to reveal a compact SUV. Initially it was called Jump but there are reports that it has been rechristened as the Nexon. Though the 'Nexon' is still in a concept stage, it will showcase Tata Motors new design language for its future range of cars. Powetrain options are likely to be a 100bhp, 1.2-litre turbo-petrol from Tata’s Revotron engine family and an all-new diesel which the company is developing in-house. The Nexon is likely to be showcased at the Geneva show as well in March 2014.
Tata Nano, was the star of the Auto Expo back in 2008 and with the Gujarat plant fully operational, we expect a few surprises from Tata. If Tata Motors unveils or launches the Nano Diesel along with the 1.0-litre petrol version that is speculated to be under testing, it can steal the thunder from Renault’s new small car concept or the Datsun GO. The Tata Nano may also feature the Auto-manual gearbox to counter the Celerio from the Maruti stable.
Tata is also working on repositioning the Aria MPV and we expect some new variants of the car to be showcased including the automatic transmission variant along with some interesting pricing strategy to boost up the sales numbers.
The Auto Expo 2014 is very important for Tata Motors from the strategic point of view and we expect them to roll out some ingenious plans. Stay tuned to our website as we bring you live action from the Tata pavilion, as it unfolds.
