Pratap Bose, popularly known as Head of Design at Tata Motors, was last month promoted to the position of Vice President, Global Design. He, along with a team of designers from around the world, who are based in Tata Design Studios in Italy, UK and India; have managed to give Tata cars a new life, as far as design is concerned.
It all started with the Tiago, then Tigor, followed by Nexon, and more recently the Harrier. The Tata design team is now getting ready to reveal their second wave of designs, at the Geneva Motor Show tomorrow, where not 1, not 2, but 4 new cars will make global debut. One of these cars is Altroz hatchback. It is the production spec variant of 45X concept, which made its debut at the 2018 Auto Expo.
Altroz is the second hatchback from Tata Motors to sport the Impact 2.0 Design Language, first being the recently launched Harrier. It will be positioned on ALFA (Agile Light Flexible Advanced) Architecture which boasts of modular characteristics. ALFA ARC platform promises various advantages.
It is adaptable to multiple body structures and capable of handling hybridization and electrification. It also creates class leading leg and luggage space while it creates utility around the driver and also supports various power train options and enhances safety. Watch Pratap Bose sketching Altroz, which is based on ALFA platform, on a piece of paper in the video below.
Tata Motors future strategy will focus on two architectures – ALFA and OMEGA. ALFA will cover vehicles in the categories of mini hatchbacks, compact sedans, mid-size sedans, compact sports utility vehicles, premium hatchback, mid-size sports utility vehicles and crossovers. ALFA will address the market with products having length between 3.7 to 4.3 meters, allowing it to cover more than 90 percent of the current passenger vehicle segment in the country.
The OMEGA platform, on the other hand, is a derivative of the Land Rover’s D8 architecture. It is a monocoque platform that is built from lightweight and high tensile material offering better torsional and bending stiffness and designed to cater to Indian road and driving conditions. It has been specially developed by Tata Motors along with Jaguar Land Rover, to address the more premium segment. Harrier and H7X are positioned on this OMEGA ARC platform. The current generation Tata cars, which are currently on different platforms, will be shifted to either of these two platforms, as and when they enter new generation.
Speaking about the new Altroz, it will most likely be powered by the same engine lineup as seen on the Nexon. The 1.2 liter turbocharged Revotron petrol engine will offer 110 PS power and 170 Nm torque while the 1.5 liter turbocharged Revotorq diesel engine will put out 110 PS power and 260 Nm torque. Engines come with manual as well as auto gearbox. Once launched in India later this year, it will rival Maruti Baleno and Hyundai i20.
