To profit from the madness for urban SUV models in India, and use it as a CPR to restart this forgotten model, Tata Motors is revamping the Grande (formerly Sumo Grande) to launch in the next six months.
A person privy to the developments told IndianAutosBlog.com that "specific consumer segments are identified for which the Grande will be made and marketed to."
The Grande sits on the stretched Sumo platform. As it is a ladder frame (the underpinning's inception goes back to the 1990s), it held on to the crude leaf spring rear suspension and misses out on important safety features such as ABS and Airbags. Tata repositioned the car in 2009 as the 'Grande Mk II' and yet again in 2011 with all round improvements. However even with the customer feedback addressed the model never managed to disturb the sales momentum of either the Bolero or Scorpio.
Tata is evolving the new design philosophy that launched on the Storme which would cut across all products. This is likely to influence the styling of the new Grande too. If the 'Horizonext' program launched yesterday is setting the tone for lifecycle activities, we may see the Grande get refinements in the powertrain department, improvements in fit and finish and new features in its next revision.
