In April, Tata Motors CEO and MD Guenter Butschek had said that the Tata 45X (Tata Aquilla) will arrive in the second half of 2019. Being more specific of the timescale, the company’s President (PV unit) has now said that the launch may take place during the July-September quarter.
In a recent interview with PTI, “Harrier is first product based on Omega and our next product will be on Alpha. We will just have these two platforms...a product based on Alpha platform can come around the second quarter of next (financial) year (July-September).”
Tata Motors is currently in the process of upgrading its showrooms to have a more upmarket platform to display its premium models arriving as a part of its Turnaround 2.0 initiative.
“We acknowledge that our showrooms and workshops need complete overhauling and accordingly we have hired a global consulting agency to look into upgrading all our showrooms.”
The Tata 45X will ride on a completely new platform developed indigenously by Tata Motors. It’s called Advanced Modular Platform (AMP), and it will form the basis of the company’s next generation of hatchbacks, crossovers and sedans in the lower segment.
The Tata 45X will have a smaller footprint than the concept we saw at Auto Expo 2018. The specifications of the production car aren’t out yet, but we know that the length is 4,000 mm or lower (concept: 4,253 mm). The road-ready version will arrive with a brand-new 1.2-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine with an optional mild-hybrid system and a 1.5-litre turbocharged diesel engine. These engines may come paired to a 5-speed manual transmission and a 6-speed manual transmission as standard. Reports say that a dual-clutch transmission is planned as an option.
Also See: Tata Harrier - First walkaround video from media drive
The Tata 45X will replace the slow-selling Tata Bolt and compete with the Maruti Baleno, Hyundai i20 and Honda Jazz.
Hat tip to reader Jobu George for sharing these images!
[Source: financialexpress.com]
