Tata Motors on Wednesday unveiled a new petrol variant of its premium hatchback Altroz with sales expected to begin from next week across the country. The new trim comes with 1.2 litre bi-turbocharged petrol powertrain which produces 110 PS of power helping the model cross 0-100 km/hr in less than 12 seconds. The company already sells Altroz with 1.2 litre petrol engine which generates 86 PS of power. The 1.5 litre diesel powertrain on the other hand produces 90 PS of power. “We have sold 45,000 units so far in the current financial year and demand continues to be strong. We hope the i-turbo trim would add substantially to the volumes,” Tata Motors Head Marketing Passenger Vehicle Business Unit (PVBU) Vivek Srivatsa told reporters during a virtual launch event. Elaborating further, he said the new trim could add around 10 per cent to the company’s overall sales.
“We have had only one petrol engine variant so far for the Altroz. We have seen some of the competitors having multiple petrol options (for their respective premium hatchbacks). This (turbocharged petrol variant) satisfies different kinds of needs of our customers,” Srivatsa noted. He said the company would announce the price of the new Altroz trim on January 22 and sales would commence from the same day. When asked if the company plans to take a price hike for its passenger vehicle range, Srivatsa said, the increase in input cost has been an issue across the industry. We have not yet announced a price increase. We are looking at the competitive landscape but i think it is a matter of time before the prices increase.” On the semiconductor shortage issue, he informed that the company is not impacted so far but it is a problem that is looming large in front of us.”
Srivatsa also noted that resumption of investments, which were curtailed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, would depend on the market conditions. “We are not the only company that made these kinds of decisions (hold on investments) due to COVID-19. However, it all depends on how the market recovers, how our financial performance is going ahead. Obviously the auto industry is heavily dependent on new products and we will take calls on the matter as we go ahead,” he said. Commenting on Altroz i-turbo, he said the trim comes with various new features including enhanced connected technology and multi drive modes.
