ICB Exclusive: Cut price Tata Aria Crossover rendered
Weeks ago, Team ICB broke a story about Tata Motors developing a low cost Aria Crossover aimed at the Taxi segment, where Tata vehicles are extremely popular due to a combination of attractive pricing, reasonably priced spares and vast service network. Indian roads are teeming with the likes of the Tata Indica, the Vista, the Tata Indigo, the Tata Manza and the Tata Sumo, all doing duty as taxis across the length and breadth of the country. While the Aria Crossover is currently the slowest selling models in Tata Motors’ car portfolio, the brand looks set to make inroads into the cabbie segment with a cut price Aria.
A speculative render of the 2012 Cut Price Tata Aria Crossover
Speculation: Tata Motors building a stripped down, cut price Aria Crossover minus all the electronic gadgetry
A week ago, we carried a story questioning whether the Tata Aria is the biggest flop in Tata’s relatively short span of passenger car making. Truth be told, the Aria Crossover, being the flagship vehicle of Tata’s passenger vehicle range has had a big dollop of investment going into it, right from development to marketing costs. The results though, have been far from exemplary. Even as the Aria continues to sink to new lows in terms of monthly numbers amidst difficult selling conditions across the Indian car industry, Tata Motors, its spirit unfazed is working on ways to revive the Aria brand.
2012 Tata Aria Crossover
Is the Aria Crossover the biggest flop in Tata Motors’ relatively short history of passenger cars?
Tata Motors showcased its most expensive product ever in the passenger car space, the Aria Crossover, at the 2010 Indian Auto Expo. Many months later, the crossover was launched in India, however with a factor that set it apart from rest of Tata’s products. The Aria was launched at an ex-showroom Delhi price range of INR 12.9 to 15.5 lakhs. At this price, it made the Aria the most expensive Tata passenger car ever built, thus positioning it at a segment that Tata had never existed before. The price though had a very uncharacteristic feature of Tata, of that of not being value-for-money.
2012 Tata Aria Crossover
Tata Motors begins promoting its SUV range with regular off roading and adventure events
Tata Motors has a range of MUVs and SUVs like the Sumo 4X4, Sumo Grande, the Xenon XT, the Safari and the Aria. However, the automaker hasn’t really connected with SUV buyers like the way its arch rival Mahindra has. For instance, Mahindra has been conducting off road events under the Great Escape for quite a while now where it involves Mahindra SUV owners to experience what their vehicles can do off the road. While Mahindra has now established a dedicated Adventure division dedicated to such off road and expedition/road trip activities, Tata Motors too has jumped into the fray with its own adventure division.
A Tata Xenon XT in action during one of Tata Motors' Full Throttle Trails
Future versions of the Tata Aria Crossover might get the 2.2 liter DICOR diesel engine with more torque
Team ICB was the first digital automotive publication to spot the LHD Aria on testing rounds in Pune, India. We now have buzz emerging that the Tata Aria LHD version, which complies to the stringent Euro V emission norms also gets the 2.2 Liter diesel engine with more torque. If you’ve been following our updates about the Aria during the 2012 Indian Auto Expo, you’d remember that Tata Motors had showcased an Aria with a tiptronic automatic transmission back then, with the 2.2 Liter DICOR diesel engine getting a bump up in terms of both power and torque.
2012 Tata Aria Crossover
Aria Crossover sales not affected by Mahindra XUV500, says Tata Motors official!
Citing the Tata Aria’s improving monthly numbers, an official from Tata Motors has denied that the Mahindra XUV500, a best selling product in India, has affected the Aria’s sales. Though the price point of the XUV500 and the Aria are somewhat similar, the XUV500 has been setting sales record after sales record even as the Aria has been a tepid seller at best, despite being one of the most refined products from the Tata Motors stable.
2012 Tata Aria Crossover
