Tata Motors to discontinue diesel engines for Tiago & Tigor?

After Maruti Suzuki,  Tata Motors has become the second Indian car manufacturer who is planning to discontinue their diesel powered engines on budget cars. Cars such as Tata Tiago and Tata Tigor are sold in both petrol and diesel variants and 80% of these small and mid-size cars are sold in the petrol engine variant. Adding to this, when the BSVI standards are enforced the added cost of upgrading the diesel engines on the entry-level and mid-size cars will make them more expensive and will become nonviable as it will not meet the price gap, which will eventually repel buyers.

The car sales on the diesel option entry-level and mid-size are expected to decline further after the 1st April 2020 as new stringent BSVI norms will come into effect and the prices on these cars are likely to increase. According to a media report, Tata Motors sold 1,114 units of the Tiago diesel and 6,606 units of its petrol variant, on the other hand, the Tata Tigor has an average monthly sales of 360 diesel cars and 1,940 petrol cars. From April to January 2019, the Tiago diesel accounted for 14% out of total Tiago sales and the Tigor diesel accounted for 15% of total sales.

Currently, the Tata Tiago and the Tigor are powered by two engine options –

• 1.2-litre, three-cylinder Revotron petrol producing 85 PS of power @ 6000 RPM and 114 Nm of torque @ 3500 RPM coupled to a 5-speed manual or AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) with multi-drive modes.
• 1.05-litre, three-cylinder Revotorq diesel producing 70 PS of Power @ 4000 RPM and 140 Nm of torque @ 1800-3000 RPM mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox with multi-drive modes

Tata Motors will continue with the larger engine options and will be updated to BSVI emission standards. The engine specifications are as follows:-

• 1.5-litre, turbocharged diesel engine that produces 110 PS of power and 260 Nm of torque which currently powers the Tata Nexon and is expected to continue on the upcoming Tata Altroz.
• 2.0-litre, turbocharged diesel engine that produces 140 PS of power and 350 Nm of torque which currently powers the Tata Harrier and Hexa SUVs.

The refreshed Tata Tiago and Tigor are expected to come soon and will be updated with new styling and crash safety norms. As reported earlier, the Tata Tiago XZ+ and Tigor XZ+ variants recently got an infotainment update. The Tiago XZ+ price starts from INR 5.71 lakh ex-showroom, Delhi and the Tigor XZ+ price starts from INR 6.75 lakh ex-showroom, Delhi.

In related news, Maruti Suzuki also announced that they will phase out their small diesel powered engines on the small cars in India but, on the contrary, Ford India has decided to continue and update their diesel engines to BSVI standard specifications.

-Via PTI