In an interview with PTI, Tata Motors's president of the passenger vehicles business unit, Mayank Pareek, said that the company plans to be in existing segments and "create new ones". Pareek was answering a question about the company's two platform strategy when he confirmed that Tata Motors would launch 10-12 new products in the next five years.
The Tata Harrier, the first product on the Omega platform, will launch in the last quarter of this fiscal.
It is common knowledge that four of the upcoming vehicles will slot into the SUV segment (Tata Harrier & Tata H7X), the premium hatchback segment (Tata X451 codename) and the mid-size sedan segment (Tata X445 codename). While these will take on established rivals, Tata also plans on introducing segments, chief among which could be a sedan-crossover product. The sedan crossover is a non-existent type in India, save for the premium Volvo S60 Cross Country, but Tata, with its history of discovering niche segments (the yesteryear Tata Sierra, Tata Indigo XL, Tata Indigo CS and the stillborn Tata Indica XL being prime examples) could change that with an enriched X445.
ArrayAnother segment Tata could explore is the micro SUV. Maruti and Mahindra offer products in these segments, the Ignis and the KUV100 respectively, and Hyundai is also in the news for expressing interest in joining the party. This is still an up and coming market, and the arrival of new products could see new interest from the first time car buyer. With reports reading that Tata has shelved the next-gen Nano project, a pseudo-crossover to compete directly with the Renault Kwid may not be in the agenda.
Other product ideas worth studying at are a coupe-crossover (potential rival to the Mahindra XUV Aero) and a three-row sub-4m vehicle aimed at the Maruti Wagon R 7-seater and the Renault RBC.
Around the same time next year, Tata will launch its premium hatchback, a rival to the Maruti Baleno. Seen here is the concept 45X which previews the design.Also read: Tata Indica’s production line makes way for the Tata Harrier
According to Pareek, new products will help Tata mark its presence in over 90 percent of the Indian passenger vehicles market from the current 70. As part of its new strategy, products till 4.3 meters in length will be based on the Alfa platform, and anything larger will make use of the Omega platform (essentially derived from the Land Rover D8 platform).
[Source - LiveMint.com]
