If you are in the market for a diesel car, you would find a lot of diesel cars but if you are in for a diesel automatic, you would not find a single diesel automatic in the segment sub Rs.10 lakh as the cheapest diesel automatic you can have as of now is the Hyundai Verna which costs around Rs.11.5 lakh on the road. So if you are on a budget and want a diesel automatic, what option do you have? None to be precise.
You can find automatic hatchbacks in the form of the Brio and Ritz but they offer only petrol engines which combined with the out of the roof petrol prices, did not find many takers. And we have a report that all this is set to change with the launch of an automatic diesel hatchback in the country. And the company which will bring in the car will be none other than our very own Tata. They’ll plonk in the automatic gearbox in the Tata Vista which just got launched in a 90PS avatar.
Tata showcased a concept Aria AT at the Auto Expo 2012 whose gearbox had been developed by Tata in association with ZF electronics and Jaguar. It was a 6 Speed gearbox and we believe that will be the one that would make its way to the Tata Safari Storme as well. But that’s a different ball game altogether as the cars which would get that automatic transmission are priced north of Rs.10 lakhs and that segment is pretty much not the mass market segment.
Tata Motors plans on bringing in a dual clutch gearbox to the hatchback Tata Vista Diesel Automatic instead of the CVT gearbox because of the benefits that a dual clutch gearbox offers. There is not a single hatchback with a diesel heart on offer mated to an automatic transmission but a Vista getting an automatic variant would surely set things on fire. The automatic transmission on a 90 PS hatchback would be a hoot to drive and we can always expect the transmission to make its way to the petrol Vista as well. Till then, we’ll keep our fingers crossed.
Source and image credits: IAB
