Tata Motors has announced that the production-spec 45X will have its world premiere at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. Moreover, the company’s CEO and MD Guenter Butschek has gone on record to say that this year’s Swiss show will stage four world premieres in total.
Spy media has shown that the production-spec Tata 45X, also referred to as the Tata X451 and Tata Aquilla, will have a less dramatic design and a noticeably smaller body. It won’t keep the mammoth 20-inch wheels shod with low-profile tyres, grille-less front fascia, super-slim headlamps, protruding bonnet in a muscle car style, split rear spoiler and several other mad design bits, but still end up having the most daring design for an India-made hatchback.
Because of the unique tax structure in the domestic market, the company had to reduce the length from 4,253 mm to under 4,000 mm in the production version. The interior has already leaked online, showing ample resemblance to the Tata Harrier. The production-spec Tata 45X will debut the Advanced Modular Platform, which is also called ‘Alfa-Arc’. This newly developed platform will underpin every new Tata Motors model under the INR 10 lakh mark.
The Advanced Modular Platform has been designed to support electric powertrains from the get-go, and Tata Motors will leverage this capability by launching a battery-powered variant of the production-spec 45X. This EV also will break cover at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, albeit in concept form. The production version will follow by early 2021.
Back to the ICE-powered 45X, Tata Motors will offer it with a brand-new 1.2-litre naturally aspirated three-cylinder technology featuring mild-hybrid technology as well as a diesel engine. Transmission choices will likely include an optional dual-clutch automatic unit - a first for any of the company’s models.
Also Read: Tata Harrier AT’s gearshift lever snapped
As for the launch timeline of the production-spec Tata 45X, Butschek told IAB at the Tata Harrier launch last month that the car is set to reach showrooms “in some six months”.
