Tata Aria facelift (codenamed Eagle) will not launch this year - Report

An AT variant is also being developed for the crossover.

According to a report from Indian Cars Bikes, a facelift for the Tata Aria (codenamed Eagle) is indeed under development, but will not be launched this year. The report suggests that Tata Motors has its hands full this year with the introduction of the Bolt, and planned launches of the Safari Storme facelift, the small car codenamed Kite, and a Kite-based compact sedan.

Tata introduced an update for the crossover last year which saw minor cosmetic changes coming in the form of smoked headlights clusters, clear lens taillight clusters and new body graphics. The mechanicals of the Aria remained unchanged, though the 2.2-liter diesel engine was retuned for better performance.

According to the report, project Eagle will see cosmetic changes, and on the mechanical front, Tata could introduce an automatic transmission on the Aria. An Aria AT was recently snapped testing by an Indian Autos Blog reader near Pune.

The Aria's main rival, the Mahindra XUV500 is also headed for a facelift. Mahindra have also confirmed new variants for the XUV500 such as a hybrid model and one with an automatic transmission.

Also read: Tata Pelican based on Nano's platform under development

The Aria has averaged sales of 133 units/month over the past 6 months, whereas Mahindra sold over 2,717 units/month of the XUV500 in the same period.

Competitor: Mahindra XUV500
Expected Price: INR 11-15 lakhs, ex-Showroom
Launch date: 2016 (speculated)

[Source - IndianCarsBikes]