[wheelguy]

In the run-up to the new Bharat Stage VI emission norms, that are due to kick in by April 2020, Tata Motos is looking to shed 120-140 models. The company is looking to invest in 400 new products that will suit the customer demand and most of the new products would be in the commercial vehicle front. These include, larger buses, 55-tonne trucks and more.

MUMBAI: Tata Motors is embarking on its most ambitious rationalization of product portfolio as Bharat Stage VI emission norms kick in by April 2020.

India’s largest automobile company by revenues will have 400 new product programmes and 1,000 variants, come April, shedding 120-140 models from its portfolio. The clean-up will ensure higher commercialization, quicker time to market and lower costs, thanks to new generation modular platforms. However, it would also mean a higher ticket price.

Most of the upgrades are on the commercial vehicles front, where — based on applications — different aggregates, engines and body styles are created to suit customer needs.

Upgrades include the Iris 0.5 tonne van, 55-tonne trucks, large buses, Tiago and Harrier SUV, with 40 different powertrain combinations (engine and transmissions) in 1-5.9 litre CNG, LPG, petrol and diesel engines with manual, automatic and automated manual transmission. Tata Motors would have put in Rs 2,500 crore in BS VI technology, which is its largest investment in vehicle development, said people in the know.

“There is a perfect storm on the technology side,” said Rajendra Petkar, chief technology officer, Tata Motors. “We removed vehicle combinations that didn’t make sense. We cut down product variants 15-20% as a step towards rationalization. In engines, we would have cut down 25-30% as base engine level.” Tata Motors said all its engines are BS VI compliant and it is just a matter of getting formal certification. The company has already received type approvals for more than 80% of their engines from the certification agencies. More than 90 vehicles combination have been certified.

Source: ET Auto

[gutsy]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Source: ET Auto

Tata Motors said all its engines are BS VI compliant and it is just a matter of getting formal certification.

This is interesting. Does that mean TML is already selling cars with BS6 engine, just that they don't have certification. I read somewhere their Harrier engine is already BS6 compliant..

[condor]

Would like to see this list of vehicles - both new and the axed ones. A statement like that does not give the picture.



Anyone ?

[padmrajravi]

Harrier uses Fiat 2.0, which is already BS6 ready. But I don't think their most important engine 2.2 Varicor is BS6 ready yet. Derivatives of that engine power a lot of TML commercial cash cows. There are umpteen versions of Xenons out there chugging along with that engine. Xenon is a big hit in this part of the country, you can literally count them every second you are on road.

The statement that 80% of the engines are certified is very vague. That is not how you give confidence to customers. They should take a leaf out of M&M's strategy book. M&M articulated their BS6 strategy clearly well before the panic started among customers.

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

Harrier uses Fiat 2.0, which is already BS6 ready. But I don't think their most important engine 2.2 Varicor is BS6 ready yet. Derivatives of that engine power a lot of TML commercial cash cows. There are umpteen versions of Xenons out there chugging along with that engine. Xenon is a big hit in this part of the country, you can literally count them every second you are on road.

All engines that will be continue to remain in production are BS VI ready.

The 2.2 Varicor will probably be dropped, and Fiat 2.0 Lit take its place.

The smaller diesels in Tigor, Tiago etc will also be dropped. The 1.5 In Nexon is compliant, and the 3.0 Lit option in the Xenon is compliant as well.


Rahul

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by Rahul Rao

All engines that will be continue to remain in production are BS VI ready.

The 2.2 Varicor will probably be dropped, and Fiat 2.0 Lit take its place.

Rahul

Can they afford that? That would need significant reengineering. Most of TML rear-wheel-drive commercial vehicles are on a longitudinal layout and that FIAT engine in Harrier is a traverse layout with monocoque chassis. I think Varicor will stay on for commercial purposes. Otherwise, it is going to be very expensive.

EDIT : Just read 3.0 Dicor is already complaint. So then that engine would power all commercial vehicles.

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

Can they afford that? That would need significant reengineering. Most of TML rear-wheel-drive commercial vehicles are on a longitudinal layout and that FIAT engine in Harrier is a traverse layout with monocoque chassis.

Why should that make any difference, it is only the gearbox that changes.
The 1.3 from same family is in longitudinal layout in Chevrolet Enjoy, and in Transverse in others. Also note the Mahindra 2.2 it is mounted transverse in XUV5oo and longitudinal in others.
Lastly none of the commercial users buy the 2.2, every one goes in for the 3.0. Better low end torque, more efficiency and more usable power in the correct RPM band.


Rahul

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by condor

Would like to see this list of vehicles - both new and the axed ones. A statement like that does not give the picture.

+1

Shedding 140 models? What comprise models - various combinations of car/variant/color? On the ground has anything changed yet? The website still lists Nano, Zest, Bolt despite all the news about Tata moving to new-gen models.

[Shubhendra]

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

EDIT : Just read 3.0 Dicor is already complaint. So then that engine would power all commercial vehicles.

Entire Xenon range is powered by 3.0 ltr engine not 2.2. They had 2.2 in Xenon when they were marketing it as a lifestyle vehicle (ala M&M Gateway, Isuzu VCross)
Other than Safari (which is discontinued) and Hexa no other vehicle is using this engine.
And this might be the reason of discontinuation of Hexa post March 2020.

[condor]

Originally Posted by Shubhendra

Other than Safari (which is discontinued) and Hexa no other vehicle is using this engine.

Winger is also using the 2.2 Varicor, though only for the top /personal models. The Commercial versions use the 2 litre TCIC.