Tata’s micro SUV codenamed Hornbill could get production name as ‘Tata Shikra’ and is expected to be launched in India sometime next year
Over the years, Tata has embarked on the Turnaround 2.0 strategy and is paying absolute dividends. After outgrowing the industry’s growth, the Indian brand announced its intentions to be present in 90 per cent of the addressable segments and it will be spearheaded by the Impact Design 2.0 philosophy and a couple of flexible architectures pertaining to future vehicles.
Tata will take the opportunity at the 2019 Geneva Auto Show to unveil a raft of new vehicles including concepts. The Altroz is the first vehicle to be based on the ALFA (Agile Light Flexible Advanced) platform and its production version will be revealed in Geneva along with an all-electric Altroz concept built on the same architecture.
The platform is modular and can be used to build different body types with electrification and hybridisation technologies. The second product to come out of the platform is a micro SUV and its conceptual version will break covers in Geneva tomorrow. Tata has now released a teaser image of the upcoming smallest SUV within the brand’s lineup.
It shows the sharp headlamp cluster and the LED Daytime Running Lights sitting atop. The Y shaped fog lamp assembly, distinctive to the Impact Design 2.0 language, is reminiscent of the H5X concept. The micro SUV could carry production nameplate called ‘Shikra’ since it has been trademarked by Tata Motors.
The micro SUV will slot below the top-selling Nexon subcompact SUV and is expected to be aggressively priced in India just as its bigger siblings to have a competitive advantage. It could use the same powertrain lineup from Tiago and the 1.2-litre petrol and 1.05-litre diesel engines are likely to be used with manual and AMT transmission choices.
The concept preceding the production model will be lavishly styled adorning LED headlamps, sharper grille, contrasting colour scheme, floating roofline, horizontal LED tail lamps and big-sized wheels among others.
The interior will boast touchscreen infotainment system, sporty dashboard, digital instrument console, etc. Tata Shikra will compete against Maruti Suzuki Ignis, Mahindra KUV100 and Ford Freestyle in the domestic scenes.