[srh]

Originally Posted by longhorn

This means they are targeting the commercial space only, in which case do they need such an upmarket dash? and power windows? They might as well try to keep costs low and try to price it as close as possible to the Omni. Just thinking aloud. Maybe sid could help out here.

Even the Sumo & Safari are managed by the CV division and not by the passenger car division. IMHO, there should not be any impact

[sidindica]

Originally Posted by longhorn

This means they are targeting the commercial space only, in which case do they need such an upmarket dash? and power windows? They might as well try to keep costs low and try to price it as close as possible to the Omni. Just thinking aloud. Maybe sid could help out here.

Originally Posted by indivic

Sigh... one wonder's why ...if the thing actually drives like a car, it can find some private buyers who have small budgets ....

Originally Posted by Car-Agey

Vey rightly said. People mover segment rarely looks for such features. May be they are targeting the call centre cabbies.

Originally Posted by srh

Even the Sumo & Safari are managed by the CV division and not by the passenger car division. IMHO, there should not be any impact

the commercial vehicle dealerships DO NOT sell the sumo and safari. They are manged by passenger car division, in addition to Indica and indigo and fiat cars. Both fiat/ tata and lone tata dealers sell these vehicles.

That super ace van thingy will be sold by dealers dealing in ace, magic, winger, buses and trucks like 407, 1612, 2516 etc.

the vehicle is expected to be priced at about 350,000-3,80,000.

[KRf1]

Looks a little bigger than the Omni . It might carve a segment of its own like the Ace did.
Should be a sturdy people carrier , cheap to own and maintain .
But who exactly is this vehicle aimed at ?

[amtak]

Originally Posted by KRf1

But who exactly is this vehicle aimed at ?

Smaller companies who don't want an Indica as their cab but cannot afford Wingers as well. Or may be, DHL/Blue Dart and Ambulance fleets.

[akhilesh51]

Originally Posted by sidindica

the commercial vehicle dealerships DO NOT sell the sumo and safari. They are manged by passenger car division, in addition to Indica and indigo and fiat cars. Both fiat/ tata and lone tata dealers sell these vehicles.

That super ace van thingy will be sold by dealers dealing in ace, magic, winger, buses and trucks like 407, 1612, 2516 etc.

the vehicle is expected to be priced at about 350,000-3,80,000.

Tata has three segments of dealerships:

1. Tata / Tata - Fiat PCD (Passenger Car Dealer) : Nano, Indica, Indigo, Sumo, Safari

2. Tata LCV (Light Commercial Vehicle) : Ace, Magic, Winger, 207, 407

3. Tata HCV (Heavy Commercial vehicle) : 1612, 2516, Earth Moving Equipments, Specialised Construction Locomotives.

Sid has mentioned that new van will be sold through TATA LCV dealers, but I strongly believe this car will be a PCD product, but that is something which is very vague and I will strongly give benefit of doubt to Sid because he's the originial SCOOPMASTER

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by longhorn

How about Tata IndiVa ? India Van.

I like the name Indiva.

Originally Posted by sidindica

The vehicle will be sold through tata commercial vehicle outlets ONLY.

Not sure a good idea. But i guess it is more of an internal organizational issue as Passenger Cars and Commercial vehicles are are 2 seperate divisions with in TM. Looks like this is conceived and developed by Commerical vehicles div. Hopefully by launch time, they will sort out the differences and will be sold thru Passenger Car dealerships or both. Since this is built at the Ace plant, it may lack the refinement seen in Indica Vista/Manza. I doubt this is targetted for the Families. The current priority for Passenger car division is to launch Xover, Let us wait and see how things will pan out.
Tushky, i heard the Winger is not a commercial success, from the dimensions do you think, this is a replacement for Winger, ( Or too small compared to Winger)

[gshanky]

Sid, assuming one of your black boxes are related to this omni like ace, can you un-black / unviel / open that box?

[ACM]

nice scoop tusky and sid:

Take aways:

Magic is a soft top RTV- Rural transport Vehicle. - It cannot sell in really large numbers and is not safe in case of a crash. - It is also underpowered.

The Ace based Van can create it's own segment - Decent power, AC not an issue, better interiors than Maruti OMNI. OMNI may see a phase out in 2010 for emmision norms as well as crash test standards. Since the Ace based Van is ceated just recently it obviously would pass the proposed Crash test norms.

TATA may have a winner on it's hands, but it will take a bit of time to see Maruti buyers shifting to TATA.

Price 3.5L

This could account for a 10% shift in market share. (5% drop for Maruti and 5% rise for TATA.)

[Trapezio]

Originally Posted by ACM

Magic is a soft top RTV- Rural transport Vehicle. - It cannot sell in really large numbers and is not safe in case of a crash. - It is also underpowered.

Do you know for sure that Magic is unsafe?

I had checked the vehicle out. Was impressed with what I saw. It has something like a roll cage over the passenger area with the soft top on. I cannot imagine it being any less unsafe than a normal car. Its one clever, cheap, and effective solution.

[vijaythacker]

ACM, this one would be full hard top safer vehicle compared to ACE, seems a good winner for tata motors if they promote it in better way and pricing also.

[shortbread]

By taking the Omini segment for granted, Maruti has aimed at its own two feet and this could play into the hands of Tata.

The Omini has been a strong and consistent seller for Maruti for 25 years, but unlike the 800 where Maruti steadily pushed the Alto as a replacement. The Omini has been virtually untouched and from what was the preferred people carrier of the country, after all this years its turned into a crude, unsafe and outdated means of transport.

Presently the Omini still has no replacement either form Maruti or from the competitors, there is nothing thats cheap or has the low running costs of this stalwart. Maruti launched the Versa, but with a 1.3 petrol engine it was never going to be a viable alternative with the far higher running costs, it was crying out for a Diesel. Even with the new variant based on the Versa platform Maruti is still only talking about launching a Petrol variant.

Its actually suprising that after launching the Ace more than 4 years ago, Tata has taken so long to make a proper people carrier out of the same platform but once it does there is little it has to compete against.

[emkay456]

There is a newsreport today stating Maruti coming out with a new model (van) this fiscal year end. Probably as a replacement for Versa.

[Cartman]

Great scoop Tushky!
If it will be sold only through the commercial dealers, the public is deprived of a useful transport at low price.
Maruti Suzuki has indeed taken the Omni and its success for granted. It still remains the good old "tin box" it used to be.

Originally Posted by emkay456

There is a newsreport today stating Maruti coming out with a new model (van) this fiscal year end. Probably as a replacement for Versa.

I believe the production of the Versa has stopped.The replacement would probably be the Suzuki APV.

[amit_mechengg]

this van drives very similar to tata indica, with the same engine fitted obviously. but the cabin is damn good. maruti van is nothing to be spoken about while comparing the interiors. also the sheet metal is sturdy which is very peculiar on tata vehicles unlike flimsy marutis.

[ACM]

Originally Posted by Trapezio

Do you know for sure that Magic is unsafe?

I had checked the vehicle out. Was impressed with what I saw. It has something like a roll cage over the passenger area with the soft top on. I cannot imagine it being any less unsafe than a normal car. Its one clever, cheap, and effective solution.

Have sat in a magic (Shirdi - hotels use it to transport between the hotel and temple.) Am sure it is unsafe. the roll cage like stuff on the top is just a frame for the soft top, feel sure that it will crumple if the Magic were to ever tropple over. I guess the top speed is restricted for the same reason.