Update: Indian Autos Blog reader, Mr. Mayur Kumar, snapped these spyshots of the Tata Kite hatchback near the airport road in Dwarka.
Bharat Autos' Steven Neil has spotted the Tata Kite hatchback testing on Hosur Road in Bangalore sporting production headlamp and taillamp. The website refers to the car as the 'Tata Glade'.
May 11, 2015
Update - Team-BHP member "MunnabhaiMBBS" has shared a few snaps of the Tata Kite testing in Pune city.
May 5, 2015
Update - IAB reader Dr. Prashanth Prabhu spotted the Kite while it was testing on the Hosur road near Bengaluru. The Kite will relaunch Tata Motors into the B1 passenger segment where it currently has the Indica, and if made in Sanand, Gujarat, will help improve the utilization of capacity.
May 4, 2015
All-new three-cylinder petrol engine will make its debut on the Kite.
Tata's next major new products, which are codenamed 'Kite', will cater to the compact segment presently served by the Indica and Indigo eCS. The first among these, the hathcback, is reported to launch towards the early part of the second half of this year.
Where the Zest and Bolt have some design similarity to the Tata Vista, the forthcoming Kite hatch and compact sedan have been designed from the ground up by Tata's European Technical Center (TMETC), and will not resemble any Tata cars presently sold.
Based on a heavily re-engineered version of the Indica's XO platform, these cars will have significantly improved refinement and rigidity. Autocar India reports that only the engine firewall and pedal box have been carried over from the Indica.
The suspension will be all-new while the electronic power steering (EPS) system will be carried over from the Zest and Bolt.
As reported earlier, the diesel engine will be a 1.05-liter three-cylinder motor producing about 70 bhp. This engine is reported to be derived from the 1.4-liter DICOR unit, but gets a stiffer block, counter-balancing shafts and improved frictional management.
Also read: Tata GenX Nano with AMT - Review
The petrol engine on the other hand will be an all-new 1.2-liter three-cylinder unit with about 75 bhp on tap. Where the current Revotron engine is based on the Xeta engine, the three-cylinder unit will make use of an all-new aluminium block with four valves per cylinder.
Rivals: Honda Brio, Hyundai i10, Maruti Wagon R, Maruti Celerio, Chevrolet Beat
Expected price: INR 3.5-4.5 lakhs (ex-showroom)
[Source - Autocar India & Team-BHP.com & BharathAutos]
