[Omtoatom]

I think one of the biggest battles Tata Motors and Karl Slym have to fight is that of perception. The brand has a slightly negative image, if I may say so, in terms of quality, durability and form. Often we find that Tata cars are lacking in fitment, fit and finish in their respective classes. Nor has Tata Motors consistently won laurels or have been applauded for their engineering either. For sure, the brand doesn't clock in highly on the snob/status value. I mean can you honestly picture a guy who's just bought an Indica shouting about his feat from the rooftops? A pretty long shot I'd say.

This is just an overall, broad sentiment. Obviously Karl understands his business much better than anyone else and I'm sure has accordingly identified his challenges and prioritized them too. His task is pretty much cut out here, if he's looking at wresting the #2 position from M&M - or more significantly giving MUL a run for its money. Gotta say however, from his approach he seems a pretty sorted-out guy who's willing to listen to his customers, dealers and suppliers. He himself says he's devoted the bulk of his past 3 weeks' time to that exercise. I think that in itself is a big step in the right direction.

Goodluck Karl Slym.

[condor]

Originally Posted by Balaji31582

i think TATA motors have to keep the cab customers and the private owners in separate bays ..

The cabbies go the A.S.S only for warranty services. As they come close to end of wty, they switch to local garages. And considering the speed with which they clock those miles, the cabbies are out of wty services quite fast. It does not make much sense to have separate bays.

[Balaji31582]

Originally Posted by condor

The cabbies go the A.S.S only for warranty services. As they come close to end of wty, they switch to local garages. And considering the speed with which they clock those miles, the cabbies are out of wty services quite fast. It does not make much sense to have separate bays.

agreed condor. But even for the warranty services, i feel its better to treat them separately. I cannot imagine to see my Manza serviced together with a indica ev2 cab even though mine would have clocked a 50K on tacho whereas the indica ev2 cab might be for its first free service. Yes, but this is a costly affair to altogether have a separate bay but if they can manage for tata ace(atleast sales showroom) separately why not for the cabs was my thinking.

[safari_lover]

May be one of the things that they can do is form seperate entry and exit points at their service stations - one for private owned cars and others for cabs.

I read Mr. Slym admitting that Taxi business can be both good and bad. On the one hand it could give good business but on the other side gives a negative perception. So, hope they find a solution to for this.

[shabahmad]

WagonR, Dezire, Innova, Eeco, Xylo cars are also taxi/cabs, they also come for routine services/warrently claims in service stations, get services with other private vehicles but we dont complain for those brands. Even Skoda/Merc/BMW are premium taxis do they have a seperate arrangement for taxi registered vehicles.

Then Why only Tata ? as fellow mem Omtoatom said its only perception.

Tata should concerntrate to provide quality vehicle (with less niggles, at factory level) and good service to vehicles (at dealership level). We can ask for seperate waiting lounges and priority for Private vehicle owners.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

Which means, the need of the hour, a small SUV is not even in plans

I have news from a fairly reliable source that a sub-10 lakh monocoque SUV (means, lighter & car-like road manners) is at the design & development stage

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by GTO

I have news from a fairly reliable source that a sub-10 lakh monocoque SUV (means, lighter & car-like road manners) is at the design & development stage

That is great news. Thanks for sharing it GTO. They have the Vista/Manza platform. All they need is a well designed body. Hope we wont be disappointed. Any idea about the target launch time, 2014 Autoshow?

[safari_lover]

Originally Posted by GTO

I have news from a fairly reliable source that a sub-10 lakh monocoque SUV (means, lighter & car-like road manners) is at the design & development stage

Here's a news article that corroborates.

“I can’t disclose anything for future, but you can be sure that we are working on all sorts of UVs in all segments and compact SUV (sports utility vehicle) is playing a vital role,” a top company official told DNA Money.

“We have been working on a new range of products for at least a year, since I have joined here. We are intensifying the process,” said Karl-Heinz Servos, project director – joint projects, engineering research centre, Tata Motors.

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report...ig-uvs_1753212

[harishpr]

Originally Posted by safari_lover

Here's a news article that corroborates.
http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report...ig-uvs_1753212

I'm all excited now. I have Manza which is doing great and I hope to get to a suv in couple of years. Rexton is tempting, but if TATA can manage to bring their urban uv soon, I'm all in for it. I have had good experience with tata and i hope my next vehicle is from their stable.
Safari never appealed toe due to its size, aria came in just when I bought Manza, but I drool seeing aria on road. Not many on road though :-)
I'm a big fan of tata, heck my friends who always pick on tata. But so far tata has offered me total peace of mind. Manza is a great sedan with no niggles. Service cost is minimal, mileage is excellent. Little of body roll makes me feel a bit bad, but it's a good package overall.

[MHG]

The way forward which I see benefiting Tata:

1. Share next-gen Land Rover Defender platform with next-gen Aria and ensure that the next-gen Aria looks totally butch and mean while loading it with features.
2. Plonk 2 cylinders from the 1395cc Indica eV2 CR4 engine or maybe 2 out of 4 MJD cylinders into the Nano and see it fly off shelves.
3. Launch a Tata Manza Sport. Give it all 4 disc brakes, a much beefier and sporty suspension, top notch equipment levels rivalling the Verna and the 2.2 litre 140BHP Safari engine. Perhaps offer it in dual color scheme. The Tata sleeper car anybody ? Manza looks smart enough that people would actually consider buying it.
4. Continuing the last line above, while Manza looks proportional and smart, Vista is just ugly, old-fashioned, disproportionate and confused. I'd put the older gen Indica eV2 more proportional and smarter looking than the current gen Vista. This car needs to be dropped and a replacement that does not anything like an Indica needs to be brought in. Perhaps with an oblong boxish Mini/Swift/Fabia style supermini looks. And take a cue from the i20 here in offering equipment across variants and ensure that it handles like stink (punto being the benchmark) and plonk in the 90HP MJD into it.
5. Learn a thing or two from the success of Mahindra in general. An SUV or an MUV should compulsorily look sufficiently butch, mean and big with an intimidating front and an attitude-filled rear view. Otherwise it rarely has takers in India. Sumo, Grande and Aria all need revamping around these grounds.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by MHG

Plonk 2 cylinders from the 1395cc Indica eV2 CR4 engine or maybe 2 out of 4 MJD cylinders into the Nano and see it fly off shelves.

The MJD perhaps, but definitely not the CR4. the CR4 is a desperate attempt to reband the dicor which was a massive failure (check out the indigo dicor threads here) that there was no other way to get people to buy those engines. Delphi/Dicor tech is definitly not the way forward and last I heard, a clean slate design with bosch was on the cards. Would rather they get that ready. Tata desperately needs to get its engine design act together

[zenren]

Originally Posted by GTO

I have news from a fairly reliable source that a sub-10 lakh monocoque SUV (means, lighter & car-like road manners) is at the design & development stage

Technically, Tata has a sub-10 lakh monocoque SUV now: Tata Aria Pure LX at 9.95L

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by zenren

Technically, Tata has a sub-10 lakh monocoque SUV now: Tata Aria Pure LX at 9.95L

Sorry, Aria is a body on frame SUV. Not a monocoque.

[zenren]

swiftnfurious, thanks for the correction.

While checking Tata Aria's official site, came across one of their sub sites tatasuv.com and was shocked to see below vehicles in Tata's SUV list:

Sumo Gold
Xenon XT
Venture

Can someone help me understand Tata's SUV definition? Sumo atleast has a shape similar to a SUV but the other two?

[safari_lover]

Reportedly Tata Motors will launch Six models in the next one year.

source - http://profit.ndtv.com/news/auto/art...-2-slot-312174

As of now, we know that the following are under works.

Nano with bigger engine
Nano Diesel
Manza CS
The compact SUV
Aria Automatic

Any guesses for the other one?