5- and 7-seat premium Tata SUVs coming with Land Rover and Fiat hardware.
Tata Motors is working on a new SUV codenamed 'Tata Q501' and is testing its prototypes since early 2017. In the latest, Team-BHP has published spy photos of its prototype on test in Pune.
Tata Motors acquired Jaguar Land Rover in 2008, and after nine years, the company has found a way to establish a direct cooperation with products. The Tata Q501 is based on the Land Rover Discovery Sport (codename: Land Rover L550)'s platform, which is called the 'Q' platform for the stable of utility vehicles planned under the Tata Motors brand. The LR Discovery Sport's platform is a substantially revised version of the Freelander and Range Rover Evoque's chassis.
Tata Motors is testing the Tata Q501 still under a Land Rover Discovery Sport shell, suggesting that development is still in the early stages. The Q501 could introduce a new design language for Tata that would trickle into its next-gen vehicles.
The Tata Q501 will reportedly share the floor pan and structural components with the LR Discovery Sport, but get the Jeep Compass' 2.0-litre Multijet II diesel engine instead of the VARICOR or Ingenium diesel engine. The 2.0-litre Multijet II engine develops 172 PS and 350 Nm of torque in the Jeep and is made at the Tata Motors-FCA JV's plant in Ranjangaon near Pune. Tata Motors has ordered 70,000 units of this engine for the Q501 and the Q502 (7-seat variant) SUVs, another report said.
Also See: Headlight and taillight glow pattern of the Tata Nexon photographed
The Tata Q501 is said to arrive sometime next year, well after the Tata Nexon hits the market in the festival season.
[Image Source: Team-BHP]
