Tata Motors is going aggressive with its premium PV range. Following the 5-seat C-SUV Harrier, the 7-seat SUV Buzzard is arriving this year. Much later, the upper end of the line-up could include an SUV-coupe and an 8-seat MPV.
The Omega-Arc platform, derived from Jaguar Land Rover’s D8 platform, gives Tata Motors many product opportunities. It is scalable and can be used for different body styles. Back in July 2010, the D8 platform spawned JLR’s first-ever SUV-coupe - the Range Rover Evoque - which has become one of the company’s best-selling models worldwide. Tata Motors is pondering an SUV-coupe using the low-cost version of this platform, and even an 8-seat MPV.
“The Omega Architecture is scalable and we should be able to come up with an (SUV) coupe in the time to come,” Rajendra Petkar, Chief Technology Officer, Tata Motors, told Autocar India recently. “Also, an eight-seater, something like an MPV, is also possible from the architecture,” he added.
Since BMW defined the SUV-coupe segment with the X6 in 2008, a lot of automakers have added SUV-coupe model(s) to their line-up. Now, even mainstream brands like Volkswagen, Skoda, Seat and Renault are working on an SUV-coupe, while homegrown Mahindra had expressed its interest by introducing the XUV Aero concept at Auto Expo 2016.
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Three-row MPVs too present great potential in the Indian market. As Tata Motors is considering Omega-Arc platform as the basis, it’s safe to assume that it has the Toyota Innova Crysta in the sight, not the smaller Maruti Ertiga. Last year, 78,130 units of the Toyota Innova Crysta were sold in India. The Omega-Arc platform-based MPV could arrive as the successor to the Tata Hexa.
[Source 1: autocarindia.com]
[Source 2: autopunditz.com]
