New Cars in India

According to some very reliable sources in the industry Tata Motors is planning to launch a new car that will be positioned between the Nano and the Indica. This small car is expected to be launched in the market by 2012, and rumour has it that it will be named Dolphin.

“The car is expected to be powered by an 800cc or 1,000cc engine, and will be strategically placed in the A2 segment like Maruti Suzuki’s WagonR and Hyundai i10,” a reliable source said. He also revealed that the car is likely to be priced around Rs 3.5 lakh.

Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle maker, has just one hatchback in the A2 segment and two in the mid-size segment. With the launch of Dlophin, Tata would be ready to take on Maruti Suzuki which has the biggest line up of A2 segment cars. Maruti has around six models in the particular segment.

“Perhaps Tata Motors is looking to plug the gap between the Nano and the Indica in its portfolio,” the source said.

Additionally, after the phasing out of Maruti Suzuki 800, there is a gap that needs to filled, and Tata Motors would make a grab for the opportunity.

The Indian car manufacturing company has not revealed any timeframe for the launch of the new model, the industry source said the company has sent renderings of the proposed new model to component vendors, and sought their “requests for qualification” documents.

“We don’t even know whether it will be a petrol or a diesel model, or if it would have both. There is still no clarity on it,” he said.