[nikhilthegunner]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Few things about the upcoming Punch Powertrain's DT1 DCT automatic transmission which is quite different from the regular DCTs:

Do you know if it's coming with a wet or a dry clutch DCT? Dry clutch might have problems in our congested cities.

[dg2332]

I see the different sets of tires in petrol and diesel. Is it a move towards cost cutting on the diesel varient or is it to improve the ride quality since diesel varient is 100 kgs heavier ?

[SoumenD]

If you compare it to i20,baleno etc this feels more of a #metoo product rather than anything ground breaking. 3yl NA petrol specially is very uninspiring for this class. But am sure even TATA knows this and hence maybe they will spring a surprise once pricing is out and we will see this undercut the premium hatches by a decent margin, just like what happened with Nexon when it was released? If priced at par with Swift/Nios, this will make for an excellent VFM proposition compared to those vehicles & then even AMT probably would be justified as that class has AMTs mostly.

Ex-showroom Bangalore prices :
Baleno starts from 5.67L
Swift starts from 5.12L
Nios starts from 4.99L
Tiago starts from 4.49L

From Tiago to Baleno TATA has a good 1.2L window. I strongly feel this might start somewhere in between around 5.2-5.3L(around swift levels) & hence making a VFM case for itself.

Going by TATA's record, one thing that this maybe able to boast of compared to others is a strong build(if it manages Nexon like rating), but needs to be seen as this one weighs as much as the Tiago. Guess, we should hold on till the pricing is out.

[sagarpadaki]

If Tata claims this car to be a Gold standard with 1.2L 3 Cyl NA Engine and just 2 Airbags in 2020, Then i would say they have set their standards very low.

[XRoader_001]

Tata Motors joins Google to launch Tata Altroz Voice BoT.
Screenshot of the press release :

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by nikhilthegunner

Do you know if it's coming with a wet or a dry clutch DCT? Dry clutch might have problems in our congested cities.

It would be a huge surprise if it comes with a wet clutch. Cars costing thrice the amount also don't come with that. For now I think best to bet on a dry DCT.

Originally Posted by dg2332

I see the different sets of tires in petrol and diesel. Is it a move towards cost cutting on the diesel varient or is it to improve the ride quality since diesel varient is 100 kgs heavier ?

And mileage. Wider tyres = lower mileage in the sensitive petrol motors.

Originally Posted by SoumenD

3yl NA petrol specially is very uninspiring for this class. But am sure even TATA knows this and hence maybe they will spring a surprise once pricing is out and we will see this undercut the premium hatches by a decent margin

Problem is - when people are willing to shell out more than 7-8 lakhs OTR on a hatchback, VFM isn't the first item in their wish list. Since the Tiago is not too far below, the real margin to play with is quite tiny. Otherwise Tiago & Altroz will only compete between themselves and nothing in the B+ segment as intended.

Altroz might end up competing with the Swift-i10 NIOS. I don't think thats what they are gunning for. But most likely it will be somewhere in this segment from a customer perspective - my gut feeling.

Originally Posted by dg2332

Going by TATA's record, one thing that this maybe able to boast of compared to others is a strong build(if it manages Nexon like rating), but needs to be seen as this one weighs as much as the Tiago. Guess, we should hold on till the pricing is out.

Tiago in itself is a heavy car. Very soon its expected to score 5 stars in GNCAP. With one of the highest amount % of high strength steel in structure, I feel we can bet on the Altroz scoring at least 4 stars in GNCAP. However - if TML is betting purely on this 1 item - I'd remind them to have a look at the current top 10 selling models in the country.

All the top positions are occupied by mileage cars weighing ultra light. So its statistically evident that people are not yet buying safety.

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

If Tata claims this car to be a Gold standard with 1.2L 3 Cyl NA Engine and just 2 Airbags in 2020, Then i would say they have set their standards very low.

I must agree. They have got a lot of good features like wide opening doors, flat rear floor, good spacious & practical interiors, feature list.

But the one thing that a purist considers as "premium" is the powertrain. In the petrol side of things, Altroz doesn't seem much premium on that front. However - the real ace that the Altroz has is the 1.5L Revotorq. Its a lot of aces in a single card really. I'm pretty sure TML is actually banking on this single item in the spec list to propel this car to success. They are just not saying it.

Come BSVI enforcement, MSIL won't have any diesel car for foreseeable duration, VW seems to be done with the 1.5 TDI in India too (sadly). Suddenly a huge chunk of market is up for grabs. Only Hyundai i20 & Tata Altroz will fight it out on the oil burning side. (With an overlap from the Ford Freestyle maybe.) My money is on 70% of Altroz's sales being diesel variants. The diesel if priced well - has the potential to be the joker in the pack.
===


Off topic - I must say, the unveil event was so dull. It was more of "Tin Standard" for launching a car they claim to be "Gold Standard".

1. Pratap Bose is having to do a lot of things. The head of design is ending up pulling a lot of others as ballast with him. Having to do PR and marketing must be quite annoying for him.
2. I was quite disappointed with the way Mr. Vivek Srivatsa conducted his part of the session.
3. His talk was a large heap of politically incorrect statements. Quite gender biased & pretentious.
4. And the gentleman before him called "Ladakh" as "Laadkha".

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

---
Come BSVI enforcement, MSIL won't have any diesel car for foreseeable duration, VW seems to be done with the 1.5 TDI in India too (sadly). Suddenly a huge chunk of market is up for grabs. Only Hyundai i20 & Tata Altroz will fight it out on the oil burning side. (With an overlap from the Ford Freestyle maybe.) My money is on 70% of Altroz's sales being diesel variants. The diesel if priced well - has the potential to be the joker in the pack.
---

This is a petrol dominated segment. The below stats is from FY19, but am sure it has moved more in favor of petrol.



Source:Auto Punditz

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by volkman10

This is a petrol dominated segment. The below stats is from FY19, but am sure it has moved more in favor of petrol.

Of course. It absolutely is. And I think TML has given up on the petrol share. I guess its trying hard only for the 20% odd on the diesel side of things where there is a chance. Even those sales numbers if they manage to make - are a huge volume number for TML considering their overall sales figures.

Petrol Altroz I think is only an "Also Ran" contender in Tata's own calculations.

[arvindmanju]

Did you guys notice petrol car gets wider 195/55 R16 tyres compared to more powerful diesel sibling gets 185/60 r16 tyres. I am comparing the XT variants of petrol and diesel.
When petrol engine is less powered why more wider tyres?

[tushky]

Just thought of comparing Altroz Dashboard to Altroz EV dashboard. Which one do you prefer?

[Reinhard]

That brushed aluminium finish on the dash board fascia can backfire. It might not be to the tastes of the masses, no matter how well it is finished. Its there on the Nexon too, but in much lesser quantity than on the Altroz. Looks good on Nexon.

The one on Altroz is a bit too much for my taste. Would have preferred more grey / black there instead of this shiny slab.

[zhopudey]

No dct for the diesel? Hope Autocar is wrong again about this.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by zhopudey

No dct for the diesel? Hope Autocar is wrong again about this.

Well the car is now officially unveiled & there is no automatic for now in petrol nor in diesel. So ACI is right. The automatic is only coming "later". So all pure speculation.

1. The car has no variant badge. So going the Nexa way to appear "Premium"?
2. TML is now mentioning "Alpha Arc Construction" in "Safety" section of brochure. Again - copying what Maruti did with HearTect? How is the name a contributor to safety?

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Come BSVI enforcement, MSIL won't have any diesel car for foreseeable duration, VW seems to be done with the 1.5 TDI in India too (sadly). Suddenly a huge chunk of market is up for grabs. Only Hyundai i20 & Tata Altroz will fight it out on the oil burning side. (With an overlap from the Ford Freestyle maybe.)

Good point. That makes me wonder. When it comes to subcompact cars, BS6 has created the same market condition that was existing in the pre-indica era . I remember Hyundai models like Accent, Getz and Tata Indica were the only small diesel cars available in the early 2000s.

[nkrishnap]

The design certainly polarizes the views/opinions. However, in my view it cannot be ignored for the looks (positive or negative).

However, what one can ignore is the choice of petrol engine. The turbo petrol and an autobox is a must for both petrol and diesel. Diesel would the pick of the lot. A lot stuff will clear the air once the drive reports come and the important one THE TEST DRIVE.

Tata needs to up the ante or launch it a price which simply cannot be ignored.