Tata Motors to launch DiCOR engine cars

[windsurfer]

Source : Hindu Business Line

Working on 16-valve engine for Indigo, Indica models

Plans big on CDRi
The company is keen to enter the CRDi segment where a number of competitors have launched vehicles. While the Indigo with the DiCOR engine is expected to be launched in August, the Indica with the same engine will be rolled out by January-February next year, followed by the Marina.
Pune , June 28
Tata Motors is powering up its line up of vehicles and is gearing up to launch at least two more fuel-efficient and powerful engines for its Indigo and Indica models this fiscal.
Top sources told Business Line that the company has firmed up plans to roll out the Indigo and the Indica models fitted with its DiCOR (direct injection common rail) engine beginning August-September.
The company is also simultaneously working on a 16-valve engine to supplement the current 8-valve petrol engine range for the Indica and Indigo."The engine is almost ready now and the company is planning to roll out the Indica and Indigo fitted with these engines 3-4 months from now,'' sources said.
Work is also under way for the launch of a 2.2-litre DiCOR engine on the Safari by August with plans being firmed up to ramp up the volumes by October by when it plans to hike the production level from 40 per day to 120 per day.
Tata Motors does not comment on the launch plans of its products, as a policy, the company spokesperson told Business Line.
The spokesperson, however, said: "Tata Safari had its best ever year in 2005-06, growing by 48 per cent over the previous financial year. The trend has continued in the current fiscal with a 240 per cent growth in April-May 2006 compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal. The Safari's achievement is due to the success of the Safari DiCOR launched in August 2005.''

Eyeing CRDI front

The sources said the company is keen to enter the CRDi segment where a number of competitors have launched vehicles. While the Indigo with the DiCOR engine is expected to be launched in August, the Indica with the same engine will be rolled out by January-February next year, followed by the Marina.
According to plans currently being put in place, the company is not planning to completely shift to the DiCOR engines at one go but will initially offer customers the existing diesel engine and will shift to DiCOR technology only in a two-year window.
Betting big

"The company is betting big on the DiCOR and plans are being firmed up to make at least 20,000 DiCOR engines between October 2006 to March 2007,'' they said.
"Tata Motors plans to make a dent in this market by making the vehicles with the new engines available at a nominal additional cost.
"The DiCOR engines are expected to be at least 40 per cent more powerful than the conventional diesel engine,'' the sources said.
The passenger vehicle business reported a total sale of 18,115 vehicles in the domestic market in May 2006.

NOTE FROM MODERATOR: Kindly avoid using font size & colour formatting tags.

[islero]

Thats great news, finally the official confirmations have come.

Its also good that Tata are launching it for both the Indica and Indigo, and not just Indigo (As one would expect them to do).

[varunroy]

Talking of growth in terms of %tage is a vague way of stating facts. If you look at the No. of units it will tell you a different story. In order to gain full mileage of their disclosure they should speak in terms of Numbers, where even a common man could sum up the real picture. I am sure Tata guys themselves are not convinced about the expected growth of the DICOR else their tune of speach would be more transperent. For instance if they sold 40 units in the first quarter, at the rate of 240% growth they would have merely sold 96 units in the next quarter.

The point I am trying to make here is stated above. Giving the No. of units sold suits them here because if they were to talk in terms of %tage the picture would not look so rosy.

Just by bringing out newer version or Models is not good news for us customers. They need to improve the infrastructure in their service department too. Their dealer network needs to be upgraded and more numbers of Quality Service Outlets.

So long....

[garvit2002]

was waiting for it for a long time . hey what power will these engines produce . i think nearabout accent crdi in terms of papers

[sujaylahiri]

About time. I was extremely critical of Tata because of their Indirect Injection diesels in the Indica and the Indigo. Those cars surely deserve more than that.

[himanshugoswami]

Originally Posted by garvit2002

was waiting for it for a long time . hey what power will these engines produce . i think nearabout accent crdi in terms of papers

From what has appeared in the press so far, tehse engines will be in two states of tune producing 70 and 90 bhp, with torque ranging from 14 to 16 kgm.

[amit]

This is good news. Any kind of improvement and developement, no matter how small, is good for the buyer. What this also confirms is that Tata will not be using Fiat's multi-jet diesel engines. Just as I expected.

[Mpower]

I wonder who is going to be interested in TATA's 16v petrol engines.
They have trouble selling their existing 8V engine.

They should spend the money to make it more refined and fuel efficient.

[mail4ajo]

Originally Posted by Mpower

They should spend the money to make it more refined and fuel efficient.

TATA needs to focus more on building a mechanically sound car in the first place rather than trying to come out with bigger engines and the like. They have not got the basics of car building right.

JD power gives a very bad ranking to Indica. Inital quality issues are plenty compared to a refined car like Alto or Santro.

You cannot do your trignometry classes well unless you know your basic multiplication tables right

[hellspawn]

it is good news but their initial niggling issues still plague their cars.they should solve these rather than try to keep up with the competitors.

[tsk1979]

Niggling issues are a big problem.
Okay Indica was a learning expirience, but 10 years of learning has not fixed all problems. Surely things have improved.
And with DICOR niggling gets expensive. If some niggling problem results in the fuel delivery mechanism getting screwed up, you are looking at a huge bill.
In the small car space if I just had 4.5L and wanted a diesel, I would buy the indica no doubt, inspite of niggles, but when you come to a segment when you have completition, people are going to give them a pass untill they pull up their socks.
The VFM card plays well as long as there is no competition. This is why indigo and indica have sold so well. Fiat bungled up an almost perfect product, and now defacto small diesel is the indica/go.
The only silver lining is Hyundai and Maruti. If they can come up with a cheap affordable diesel car, it will force Tata to treat their customer unlike truck drivers

[garvit2002]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

From what has appeared in the press so far, tehse engines will be in two states of tune producing 70 and 90 bhp, with torque ranging from 14 to 16 kgm.

the present indigo engine also produces 70ps power but the dicor will have increased torque for better driveability and the engine will be far refined than the present one (that's what i think)

[ashutoshb]

thought they will bring in the DICORs with the new Indica/Indigo scheduled to be launched in 2007.

[condor]

Originally Posted by varunroy

They need to improve the infrastructure in their service department too. Their dealer network needs to be upgraded and more numbers of Quality Service Outlets.

I feel they need to work on a lot more than just their customer service. All their products would be much better if they were take the pain to make small changes, bumper-to-bumper. That would change the products from being a sum of parts, to a complete product. But they dont seem to be inclined to this.

Btw, the reporting format for growth that's mentioned in the article seems to be the standard format across the industry. Any report in the media - ET, etc - shows the same format.

[sidharth_j]

Originally Posted by amit

This is good news. Any kind of improvement and developement, no matter how small, is good for the buyer. What this also confirms is that Tata will not be using Fiat's multi-jet diesel engines. Just as I expected.

What then is the alliance with FIAT for? if not for the engines??

I think they will definitely use the multijet 1.3 for the Indica atleast.
The indigo/marina will for sure get their DICOR engines.