Tata launches ‘Kite’ in 2015? – Tackles Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Hyundai Eon, i10 Datsun Go and Chevrolet Beat

Tata Motors is likely to launch a brand new model which is expected to be the rival model for Maruti Suzuki’s revolutionary ‘Celerio’ hatch back. Maruti has attracted majority of Indian buyers with the launch of the new hatch back with AMT technology. As per the information, Tata is going to launch a smaller hatch back having similar specs as that of Celerio and it is likely to be dubbed into the market as ‘Kite’.

The portfolio of Tata in the Compact hatch back and sedan segments has been fulfilled by the launch of the Zest and Bolt recently. The refreshed Safari Storme is going to be a key player in the Sports Utility Vehicle segment. The entry level hatch back segment is another significant segment of Indian market which is emerging at rapid speed over past 3 – 4 years and Tata didn’t have even a single key model in this segment.

Though Tata has launched few variants of the Nanao hatch back recently, it is not considered as an effective model currently. Though there is appreciable demand for the model, it is not enough to tackle with the leading hatch back models in the segment. In order to beat the leading hatch back maker in India, Tata is going to launch ‘Kite’ which is expected to enter the market by the end of 2015. It is also informed that Tata is going to manufacture the new hatch back at their Sanand plant located in Gujarat.

As per ET, Mr. Amit Kaushik, A Senior Automotive Analyst from HIS Automotive has stated in connection with the Kite hatch back “Tata Motors has a great reach in the market, but it has issues of quality as it is a key to success in this segment with demanding Indian customer have a lot of options to choose these days. It will be interesting to see how Tata differentiate their sub – 1000 CC product and offers a great value to the customer from the established products in the segment”.

We could expect the upcoming Tata Kite to be offered both in petrol as well as in diesel versions. The petrol version of the model is expected to get powered with an 800 CC three cylinder engine or a 1.2 litre turbo charged four cylinder petrol engine most probably. The diesel version of the model would get powered with a 1.05 litre three cylinder diesel engine mostly. We could expect both the variants to be accompanied with Auto Manual Transmission and the price of the model may lie between Rs. 3.5 lakhs and Rs. 4.5 lakhs only.

[Source: Rush Lane, Economic Times]