Tata Motors to unveil new strategy for Aria MPV

Tata Motors will unveil a new strategy for the Aria MPV over the course of the next week. This was confirmed to CarWale on thesidelines of the unveiling of its new Revotron engine family by Ankush Arora, senior VP, commercial passenger vehicle business unit. He also hinted that the Tata Nano Twist’s EPS system is expected to find its way into the Indian automaker’s other vehicles.

He added that 2013 had been a challenging year for the industry and that 2014 would continue to have the same challenging conditions for around six months but hinted once again that the period post the General Elections was expected to bring in some form of stability.

Ankush said that Tata will unveil new models at the 2014 Auto Expo but did not hint at what these might be. However, we expect that this includes the Tata Vista Tech, Falcon 4 and Falcon 5 as well as the repositioned Aria.

Commenting on the performance of the Nano, he said that they had repositioned the car last year and this process began with the facelifted ‘awesome’ Nano and the second step in its repositioning journey was the recently launched Nano Twist. We expect that the next step in the Nano’s journey will be the diesel version which is likely to see the light of day within the next few months.

We also spoke to the Tim Leverton, president and head, Engineering Research Centre, on the Revotron engine family.The 1.2-litre petrol engine was indigenously developed in-house by Tata Motors in consultation with global engine consultant AVL, and technology partners Mahle, Bosch and Honeywell adding quality parts to the basket. The engine uses the old two-valve per cylinder layout, over the now standard four valves per cylinder set up, to reduce the load on the engine head for  longevity.

The engine has decent power and torque figures with 83.8bhp at 5,000 rpm and 140Nm at 1,750-3,500 rpm. While these figures might not seem high, the engine could offer good fuel economy figures. The engine will be very refined and will have reduced NVH levels. The turbocharger is water-cooled which invariantly improves the durability and increases the turbo life.

 He said the company has planned a family of engines which might be unveiled as the time comes. Talking more about the first engine of the Revotron series, he confirmed the cars equipped with this motor might get selectable modes, wherein the driver can manipulate the throttle response by choosing between modes.

Talking about the engine life, they refused to put a number to it, but said it will last as long as the car does. The engine is supposed to have a rather longer service interval for a petrol motor at 15,000 kms using semi-synthetic oil, which was confirmed by Tata.

We also asked whether we might see the same engine with a 16-valve head for which pat came the reply from Tim that they had stuck to the eight-valve set-up as it is most suited for a turbocharged setup.

The focus on the Revotron series of engines seems to be more on longevity with a water-cooled turbo to an eight-valve setup and better throttle response and higher fuel efficiency. Tata has stuck to its principles and we hope to see an engine from the Revotron family for enthusiasts.