Powering the Future

It was my first week in Coventry. I was just walking back to my home after my class and I saw a Tata Indica Vista in the parking lot. I was surprised and also wondering what is Indica doing here in UK? Then when I went on to do some googling, I found out it was the Tata Indica Vista EV. It was the electric variant of the vehicle. It was first launched in September 2008 in India. Lot of developments were made to the hatchback in the upcoming years.

Indica Vista EV

Now, it is being assembled and sold in the European Market. The price falls between £24000 to £30000. The vehicle could cover 110 miles in one full charge and can reach a maximum speed of 71mph. The interior is more or less similar to the hydrocarbon fuelled Indica Vista with changes to suit the European market.

With all the Global Players moving their attention to hybrid vehicles, Tata has definitely made the right move but they have not stopped with that. Thanks to one of my friends who brought to the light the information I am about to tell you.

Michelin has selected Tata's design as part of the Michelin Challenge Design for the 2012 North American International Auto Show which started on Januray 9th. Tata's electric Mobility(eMO) engineering study EV, was the one which was selected for the show. With such a big leap into the Hybrid sector, which is definitely a place where every auto maker is fighting to make a mark, Tata has a great opportunity to make it big.

TATA Technologies - eMO

The eMO was designed by the Vehicle Programs and Development(VPD) under Tata Technologies. The design shows the maturity and the thirst to reach the top spot. Though the designs are in the lines of Tata Nano, Nissan Leaf and few other electric cars in the market, it is still a great technology from an Indian company. It would definitely give a competitive edge towards other key players in the market.

With not many companies offering Electric cars around the Globe, with eMO and Indica Vista EV, definitely we can expect Tata to break the barriers very soon.

Aria

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, Tata is bringing out some good models into the market which has never failed to impress in recent times. There are 3 cars which has caught my and people's attention in the past few years. One being the Tata Nano. The next is the Tata Indigo Manza. And now, am going to speak about the last one from the list, the Tata Aria.

Tata Aria

Tata Aria was launched in 2010 Delhi Auto Expo before reaching the customers by October of the same year. It was the first SUV crossover in India. The looks just said it, it had both the muscle of a SUV and the frame of a MUV. The car was actually based on the Tata Xover concept showcased in the 2000 Geneva Motor Show. Tata definitely wanted to get into the Global Automotive pool badly, as I keep on mentioning this term in every post of mine, by stepping up their game in every car they release. Most of the time when they tried to inseminate the world market, the key issue they faced was safety. When they wanted to introduce Tata Nano into the European market, they had to literally overhaul the entire features so as to fit into their safety standards. But this time its not the same, Tata Aria has a slew of features on both safety and aesthetics.

Aria - Interior

It is equipped with ABS, 6 air bags, GPS, electronic stability control, climate control, collapsible steering and more. The best part was it meets the European safety standards. Since, they wanted to make sure that it had fit the bill of a high end SUV crossover they sent sent one of the units here, to UK, to their JLR counterparts to enhance its look and feel. It has both 4x2 and 4x4 variants, which makes it even more powerful than the usual MUVs.

Though Tata had put in lot of efforts into this project, the sales was not expected. The car is priced between 1200000 to 1500000(approx $24000 to $30000) which quite high with the kind of cars offered by their competitors in the same range. Toyota Innova, which has been in the market for over a decade now costs 20% less than the Tata Aria and also there are not many MUVs or SUVs in that range in the current Indian market except for the Skoda Yeti. Even the Indian made Mahindra Xylo is within the million mark. So, Tata slashed its prices by 20% a few months back for the festive season in a move to boost the sales of the car but till now there hasn't been much of a change to the sales.