Big news coming in from TATA, as the Indian Auto giant has apparently given the green signal to produce two world-class SUV’s to be developed with inputs from Tata’s luxury arm, Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR). This is a result of both Tata and JLR exploring synergies for sharing platforms, but the project was not viable for a long time because of the cost and positioning problems as reported by a leading financial daily. Codenamed as ‘Q501’ for the five-seater SUV and Q502 for the seven-seater SUV, the two new global Tata SUVs will be introduced in 2017 and will be priced in the Rs. 16-25 lakh segment in the country. The SUVs will receive performance and handling support coming in from JLR, while another company from the Tata Group will provide the assistance in the department of IT programming and analytics.
After a recent lull in sales figures and revenue stream Tata has made a strong comeback with the Zest compact sedan. Their plan of action is to release two new products every year up till the year 2020 and now we have a fair bit of idea as to what to expect in 2017. This project has been in the works for a long time and it passing through will give Tata a huge boost in confidence to claw their lost territory back.
Tata is yet to establish itself globally owing to its failure to keep up with the build quality and expectations of bigger markets, something which they can be assured will be addressed by JLR. Tata and JLR are also working on a new line of engines that shall power these Tata SUV’s. The think tank behind these Global SUV’s will also be global, with their Research and Development units in India and UK calling the shots.
The recently launched Tata Safari Storme proved to be a huge let down as it failed to live up to its legacy. But since then there has been some serious brainstorming going behind the scene as is evident by the list of new products waiting in the wings to come out. It is a positive move from Tata as they look to up the bar of SUV’s in India by providing a truly world class product here in India, at the same time it will be a big moment if this Indian manufacturer turns out to be successful in the global market. Currently South East Asia and Gulf region seems to be the likely immediate destination for these new Tata SUV’s.
Source: Livemint
