Quashing rumours about the discontinuation of the Hexa, Tata Motors has revealed that it will upgrade the Hexa to BS-VI. The confirmation comes straight from SN Barman, Vice-President, Sales, Marketing and Customer Support, Tata Motors.
Barman recently told The Hindu BusinessLine that Tata Motors is ready with the technology required for BS-VI the BS-VI transition on the technology front and that the Hexa is going to be available post BS-VI. The company will likely sell the Hexa as a three-row PV positioned below the Buzzard (provisional name), which it plans to launch by the end of this calendar year. It could start targeting fleet operators with a special variant configured to meet their needs at a lower cost as well. For reference, the BS-IV Hexa is priced from INR 13.26 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
Tata Motors is not worried about the future of diesel engines when it comes to big models. Commenting on that matter, Barman said:
“My strong belief is that for the bigger diesel cars (1.5 litre engine and above), there is no alternative. If you look at the fuel efficiency per se (for engines above 1.5 litre), it is substantially lower for petrol engines than diesel engines. The running cost on the petrol engine in the bigger cars is always going to be higher than the diesel engine. It makes more sense to have diesel engines during the BS-VI regime as well because one can always recover the additional cost of Rs. 1-1.5 lakh.”
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What Tata Motors is worried about with respect to BS-VI diesel engines, is if they'll be feasible for its entry-level models. From the Tiago to the Hexa, the entire Tata Motors PV line-up is available with a diesel engine either as an option or as standard. Previous reports have said that owing to the low demand and the high upgrade cost for the 1.2-litre Revotorq diesel engine the company offers in the Tiago and Tigor, it will discontinue this engine by March 2019.
[Source - BusinessLine]
