The Indian car market is going through a rough phase with the demand constantly decreasing and profit margins being slashed. However, car makers are not willing to sit down and get bogged down by the slowdown. The biggest ploy adopted by companies to counter the slowdown is the strategy of launching new vehicles or upgraded versions of successful models. Tata Motors, India's largest vehicle manufacturer, is one of the firms that has not done well in the passenger car market in the past few months. After making an official announcement regarding the new version of the Nano hatchback, Tata Motors is also planning to introduce a facelifted Vista by 2014, reports have claimed.
It is believed that the design of new Vista, which will be an upper B-segment hatchback, has been borrowed from Manza Hybrid, a car that was unveiled at the Auto Expo in 2012. Sources have claimed that Tata Motors is giving the new Vista a makeover in terms of style and aggression. It is being suggested that the new car is slated to be slightly longer than the current version and will feature a new bumper. The hatchback will come with new tail lamps that are expected to replace the Christmas tree style units, which are present in the current version.
Although no confirmation has been made by the manufacturer, experts believe that the new Vista will remain similar to the current one in terms of specifications. The Tata Vista on sale in the Indian market at present is available in both diesel and petrol variants. While the diesel version is equipped with a 1.3-litre Multijet engine, the petrol version is powered by a 1.2-litre FIRE unit. The 1.3-litre Multijet diesel powertrain variant in two tuning configurations, including 73 bhp and 90 bhp. Apart from these, there is another version of the Vista available in the market, which is powered by 1.4-litre diesel engine. Sources claim that Tata Motors is expected to upgrade the BS-III compliance to BS-IV certification.
Tata Motors, in recent times, has been facing a lot of criticism from its shareholders, who believe that the car business is not on the right kind of path. However, officials from the Indian company have refuted this claim, saying that the future prospects of Tata Motors are quite bright. The company had received a major setback when the much hyped Tata Nano failed to live up to its expectations. Tata Motors was hoping to generate high volumes of sales from the Nano but the hatchback was far too behind the stipulated target. Now, the company has sought to make a few changes in the Nano hatchback to make it more appealing to youngsters. The company will try to market the new Nano as a car that is suitable for city conditions. Also, Tata Motors will be hoping to ride on the success of the current version of the Vista to lay a platform for the new car.
