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  • Tata Safari Storme – updated SUV debuts in New Delhi

    In Cars, International News, Tata / By / / 7 comments


    Click to enlarge.

    Tata has unveiled the Safari Storme at the Auto Expo 2012 in India. The new-generation SUV’s exterior has been reworked, with a new front grille, side cladding, new projector headlamps and all-new rear looks heading the list.

    Elswhere, the bonnet has also been given a restyling job to include a ‘power bulge’ to lend the Storme a sportier look, and the spare tyre has been relocated to under the vehicle. Other fresh items include new pull-type door handles and side footsteps, as well as newly-designed roof-rails, side cladding and a new tailgate trim, replete with an ergonomically-designed grab handle.

    The Safari Storme is powered by a 2.2 litre DiCOR diesel with a Variable Geometry Turbo, and has 140 PS at 4,000 rpm and 320 Nm at 1,700-2,700 rpm for numbers, with a five-speed G-76 Mark II manual transmission in attendance. There’s electronic shift-on-the-fly (ESOF), enabling switching from 2WD to 4WD mode while on the move, and the Storme offers a generous 200 mm of ground clearance, handy for those off-road moments.

    Tata has dressed up the Safari Storme’s cabin with the inclusion of beige seats matched with a leather-wrapped steering wheel, chrome highlighted gear knob, wood-accented dashboard and door trim, a new instrument cluster, chrome-lined speaker grilles and inside door handles.

    Other interior kit includes tilt-adjustable steering, dual air-conditioning with a separate integrated roof mounted blower for rear passengers and integrated 12V-gadget charging points across all three rows of seating.

    Safety-wise, there’s four-channel ABS with EBD, dual front airbags, disc brakes throughout and an Inertia Switch, which automatically cuts off the fuel supply to the engine, unlocks all the doors and switches on the hazard warning light in the event of a crash.

     

  • Tata Indica Vista Concept S2 – sporting things up, again

    In Cars, International News, Tata / By / / 10 comments


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    The party at Auto Expo 2012 in New Delhi wouldn’t be complete without Tata Motors, and as expected, the Indian manufacturer has brought a number of new wares to the show, one of them being the Indica Vista Concept S2.

    The car is a reinterpretation of the form, as previously seen on the Indica Vista Sport, which came about at the last Auto Expo in 2010. The Concept S2 has a wider and wedge-like stance, and the design features a central volume that’s encased by two arrow-like flanks. A two-tone paint scheme – a matte metallic dark shadow and bright silver combination – and the use of aluminium and red accents helps highlight the shape further.

    Dress-up kit includes a metallic brow for the headlamps, a lower grilled with a polished black lip surround and signature LED daytime running lights at the front, while the rear gets a spoiler, restyled rear bumper and a stylised LED tail lamp cluster. The inclusion of side skirts completes the picture.

    Inside, the Vista Concept S2 gets a black-themed cabin, with sporty race bucket seats clad in black leather and a smaller diameter, sportier steering wheel among the cue changes.

    On the mechanical front, the car wears a turbocharged 1.4 litre petrol engine offering 140 PS at 6,000 rpm and 188 Nm of torque at 3,500 rpm, mated to a five-speed Fiat C510 manual gearbox with revised gear ratios. With disc brakes all around and a retuned and beefed up suspension, as well as 17-inch alloys and 205/40 series rubbers, Tata says this one is every bit the handler as it looks suggest.

     

  • Tata Nano improved for 2012 – more power and economy

    In Cars, India, International News, Tata / By / / 40 comments

    The Tata Nano, famous as the world’s cheapest car, hasn’t been as hot-selling as Tata has hoped, although it has been hot enough to catch fire occasionally. Tata seeks to reverse this (sales, not fire risk) by improving the small car for 2012. More power, more economy, more features, but at the same price, is the formula used.

    The 600 kg Nano’s 624 cc engine gets slight improvements – it now puts out 38 PS (was 35 PS) and 51 Nm of torque (was 48 Nm). Claimed best case fuel consumption is now 25.4 km/l from 23.6 km/l. The nano has a top speed of 105 km/h and the ability to climb 30% inclines.

    There’s also a revised suspension set-up, including an anti-roll bar at the front, a “steering mechanism made even easier” plus a racier sounding exhaust note for “a more assertive road presence.” Booster-assisted brakes, already available in the CX and LX trim, have now been added to the Standard as well. There’s also the addition of bright new colours, including the likes of Neon Rush, Mojito Green and Papaya Orange.

    The better news for Indians is that there will be no price increase. The Nano Standard is priced at Rs.1.40 lakhs (RM8,500), the Nano CX Rs.1.70 lakhs (RM10,300) and Rs.1.96 lakhs (RM11,870) for the top spec Nano LX, which includes kit like central locking, front power windows, body coloured bumpers, fog lamps, electronic trip meter and full wheel covers. Downpayment starts from a low Rs.15,000 (RM908) with financing tenure up to 60 months.

     

  • Tata GoldPlus Nano finally debuts – clad in 80 kg of gold, 15 kg of silver and 10,000 semi-precious gems

    In Cars, India, International News, Tata, Tata Nano / By / / 47 comments

    The edition was announced some time back, but now it has finally made its official debut – the Tata GoldPlus Nano, all Rs 220 million (US$4.6 million) worth of compact car, was unveiled in Mumbai yesterday.

    Working on the idea that nothing succeeds like excess, the one-off Nano’s exterior is completely covered by 80 kg of 22-karat gold, 15 kg of silver as well as 10,000 semi-precious stones and gems. It’s all good enough to make the US$220,000 D.C. Design Nano a poor man’s choice. And let’s not even bother to count how many basic Nano‘s you could get for the price of this one.

    Unfortunately, all that glitter can’t be bought – the car is to be used for branding and promotional purposes by GoldPlus Jewellery, which happens to be part of Titan Industries, which is a Tata Group company. GoldPlus happens to be the largest jewellery retail chain in Tamil Nadu.

     

  • Funny little things: New Tata Magic Iris and Ace Zip

    In Cars, India, Tata / By / / 79 comments

    Not sure if you remember that funny little penguin that was spotted back in 2009, but it has just been launched as the Tata Ace Zip in India. Together with covered sister Magic Iris, the duo look soft toy cute (to me at least) with their wide open eyes and odd proportions. Eyelashes will work well here, don’t you think?

    Wait, it gets funnier. The one with the roof, Magic Iris, is described as a four-wheel, 3-4 seater small passenger carrier, a good alternative to those three-wheelers that are popular in India. The pick-up bodied Ace Zip on the other hand, is described by the press release as a 600-kg micro truck “for deep-penetration goods movement”. By the way, this is not Google Translate playing tricks, the release is in English. Deep penetration goods movement, I like!


    Both are powered by a 611 cc, water cooled engine with 11 hp and 31 Nm of torque. Those wheels are 12-inch items. No performance figures are given, but the Ace Zip’s payload is 600 kg. Turning radius is a small 3.5 metres. The body is all steel, including the hard top and double steel sheet doors on the Magic Iris.

    The Magic Iris is priced at Rs 1.95 lakh (about RM13,000) while the Ace Zip costs Rs 1.90 lakh, ex showroom Thane without octroi tax. They come with a warranty of 36,000 km or 12 months.

     

  • Tata Pixel: Four seater Nano based concept for Europe

    In Cars, India, International News, Tata / By / / 26 comments

    It’s based on the world’s cheapest car, but the Pixel concept Tata showed at Geneva looked anything but cheap. The Nano based city car concept looks like it could have been from any Japanese carmaker; in fact, it looks very familiar, just that we can’t point out exactly where we’ve seen this before!

    Designed with Europe in mind, the Pixel, which is just over three metres in length, is claimed to be the most package efficient four-seater in the world. Tata says that it can comfortably accommodate four adults, which makes it more capacious than the 3+1 Toyota iQ. Tata says that those tall scissor doors allow effortless entry for all passengers in the tightest of spaces – I’m sure they didn’t have a shopping mall car park in mind!

    A 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine sits in the rear of the Pixel. It’s said to be a low-friction design featuring variable coolant and oil pump and rapid warm-up systems. With a slippery shape, low rolling-resistance tyres and stop-start, the Pixel’s fuel economy is rated at 3.4 l/100km on the European combined cycle while CO2 emissions are just 89 g/km.

    What’s unique here is the “Zero Turn toroidal traction-drive Infinitely Variable Transmission”. This efficient, cost-effective system assists rotation of the outer rear wheel forwards and the inner rear wheel backwards during low-speed manoeuvres, while the front wheels turn at acute angles. The result is a turning circle radius of just 2.6 metres.

    Gallery after the jump.
    Read more ›

     

  • New Tata Pixel to be unveiled at Geneva this week?

    In Cars, Concept Cars, India, Tata / By / / 3 comments

    The Tata Nano hasn’t exactly been the runaway success that Ratan Tata was hoping for it to be, but that hasn’t stopped Tata from planning a new larger car to complement the Nano in its next generation product family.

    The new car is expected to be called the Tata Pixel and it will be unveiled at this week’s Geneva show in concept form, powered by a 3 cylinder turbodiesel engine. It will be bigger than the Tata Nano and the concept version will feature gull-wing doors, something not likely to make it to production.

     

  • Tata reaps rewards from profitable Jaguar-Land Rover, Indian Land Rover assembly starts next year

    In Cars, International News, Jaguar, Land Rover, Tata / By / / 15 comments


    Shares of Jaguar-Land Rover’s parent company, Tata Motors, rose to their highest level in almost 19 years after the company posted first quarter profits on strong demand for luxury SUVs and sedans. Tata made 19.9 billion rupees ($430 million) in the three months ending June, compared to a 3.3 billion ($71.26 million) lost last year. Tata Motors attributed the good news to the rebound in luxury vehicle sales.

    Preparing for rising sales, chairman Ratan Tata, who is set to retire in 2012, wants to open Land Rover factories in India and China to pacify demand. This was confirmed by JLR CEO Carl-Peter Forster who said that Land Rovers will be assembled in India starting next year. Talks on producing Land Rover and Jaguar models on a JV basis with a partner in China is ongoing.

    Jaguar-Land Rover is back into the black with a net income of 221 million GBP ($348 million) in the most recent quarter, a stark contrast to the same time last year, when it lost 64 million GBP ($101.6 million). In the period, JLR sold 57,153 vehicles, more than the 35,947 in 2009. Future plans for the leaping cat include the introduction of an XF estate (see Theophilus Chin’s version here) and a new entry level roadster.

     

  • Ratan Tata planning to retire in 2012 – successor wanted

    In India, International News, Tata / By / / 17 comments

    Tata Sons Ltd have announced that they will actively be looking for a successor to the throne of company chairman Ratan Tata. Ratan, 72, has once said that he wouldn’t want to go out of the company in a wheelchair, and has arranged to retire at the end of 2012. Hot on the lips of everyone is his possible successor, a position to be decided by a five member committee.

    Ratan, who never married, has no children. Indian media have speculated that Noel N. Tata, Ratan’s half-brother and son in law of Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, who also happens to be the largest shareholder of the company, may be the man groomed for the job. Noel will join Tata International Ltd, the group’s overseas unit, as MD after stepping down from the same post at retail arm Trent Ltd.

    The successful candidate will control a huge conglomerate that has 96 companies making cars from the $72,500 Jaguar XJ to the $2,500 Nano, producing steel and growing tea, among other things. The company creates revenue of over $70 billion and accounts for almost 7% of India’s gross domestic profit. Ratan, who is a Cornell University-trained architect, took the hot seat in 1991 and charted Tata’s growth via at least 35 overseas acquisitions, including steelmaker Corus Group Plc and Jaguar Land Rover.

    It’s never easy when a family empire passes from one generation to another. Let’s hope that this one goes smoothly!

    Source

     

  • Tata opens dedicated plant to cope with Nano demand

    In India, International News, Tata, Tata Nano / By / / 22 comments


    In a move that will help clear backlog, Tata Motors has opened a new plant that will build the “world’s cheapest car” in the western Indian state of Gujerat. The Sanand factory will initially produce 250,000 units of the Tata Nano per year, with plans to eventually ramp up annual production to 350,000.

    After the hype surrounding the Nano’s launch, demand was high and Tata collected 206,703 orders during the initial sales period last April. From this, 100,000 customers were chosen by a lottery. Deliveries of the cars began in July, and up till April 2010, 33,875 units have been accounted for.

    The original dedicated Nano plant in Singur, West Bengal, was delayed after the automaker halted construction due to violent protests by farmers who originally worked on the land. Tata abandoned the near-complete facility in October 2008 and began building the Sanand facility on a 445-hectare plot.

    One of the possible reasons Tata cannot take its own sweet time is that the ultra-cheap Nano will have some rivals soon. The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Bajaj Auto are teaming up for a $3,000 car that is projected to hit showrooms in 2012. They have earmarked a plant in Maharastra that will have a production capacity of 400,000 vehicles a year. Bajaj is a huge company that produces motorcycles and auto rickshaws.

    The basic Nano, with one wiper, no radio or air conditioning costs $2,615 in New Delhi. A better equipped version will go on sale in Europe late 2011.

     
 
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