Tata Kite enters pre-production stage - Report

19/08/2015 - 19:48 Tata Kite, Tata Motors Karthik H

Replacement of the Indica and Indigo in the personal car market.

After a series of spy shots showing the Tata Kite in various stages of camouflage, a report on Motorbeam suggests that the launch is set to take place in the following months. The report states that the hatchback is currently in the pre-production stage.

2015 Tata Kite side spyshot — The Tata Kite will feature both petrol and diesel three-cylinder engines.

The pre-production stage typically includes equipping the manufacturing facility with the various tooling and moulds required for a particular model. Tata Motors' production managers at the plant will also be busy setting up day-to-day and month-to-month production schedules by rearranging existing products to slot in the Tata Kite hatchback. An earlier report said that the Kite twins would be made at the Tata Nano's plant in Sanand, Gujarat, where there is low capacity utilization.

2015 Tata Kite rear three quarter spyshot — With the pre-production stage reportedly entered, the launch is at best 90 days away.

While the Tata Kite has recently been spotted in what looks like a production-ready version, the company could still make minor changes. The Kite is based on the Indica platform, which is being re-engineered. While engine details are still unclear, it is likely that for the petrol engine, Tata Motors will knock off a cylinder from the current 4-cylinder Revotron engine - as seen in the Tata Bolt - to expand the freshly developed engine family. Tata had showcased a 1.05-liter CRDI engine at the Auto Expo 2012, which the Kite could be the first beneficiary of.

The Kite hatchback and the Kite compact sedan are set to be the two new products from the company for this fiscal year.

[Source - Motorbeam]