About two decades ago, Tata introduced its first MPV (Multi Purpose Vehicle) in the Indian market, which had a boom in its sales and the company came in demand. Tata Sumo was the first 9 seated vehicle in the early 90’s and till now, Sumo is doing quite well in the market and it is also pretty much the same as it was 20 years ago. However, the Sumo Grande and its latest sibling, the Movus, has failed to keep Tata Sumo’s hold on the ground and also couldn’t capture the original car’s essence and hence the sales of Tata Sumo lowered.
According to the report by Autocar India, Tata will launch a new version of Tata Sumo in 2018. The heavy MPV will be based on all new lightweight platforms, Codenamed ‘Raptor’ that will also introduce a new range of budget SUV’s and MUV’s.
The most important thing about this new raptor platform is that it will be based on a new technology and will not be built on ladder-on-frame architecture, or will use monocoque set-up. Instead, it will use the new technology known as ‘body integrated frame’ in which as the name says, the frame will be joined with the chassis. This will allow the company to build the cars in its own way, for example- it can choose a heavy, strong and stiff frame for the off-roads cars, and a light frame for the cars that are to be driven in city or highways. So we expect the new Sumo to have a much lighter body as well as it should be better than its competitors.
An internal official in Tata Motors said, “We feel that the conventional body-on-frame architecture is too heavy to meet future CO2 and fuel efficiency norms and that a move to lighter monocoque chassis’ will be inevitable.” Tata Motors seems to be inspired by the Land Rover, that also uses the body integrated frame for its SUV’s. So, the new Sumo will have lots of passenger and luggage space, as well as the efficiency, performance and the fuel economy will also be improved due to the lightweight concept.
