Homegrown automaker Tata Motors on Thursday said it will showcase a record 26 vehicles — 14 commercial and 12 passenger vehicles — at the Auto Expo to be held in Greater Noida from February 7-12, 2020. The line-up includes four global launches.
Separately, German auto giant Volkswagen said it will unveil its biggest SUV offensive portfolio in the upcoming expo — four new SUVs which it will launch over next two years. Some of the models Tata may display and launch at the expo are Nexon facelift, the Nexon EV, the Altron EV, and the company’s upcoming flagship seven-seater SUV Tata Gravitas.
“We are excited to unveil our extensive range of future portfolio at the Auto Expo 2020, which are not only BS-VI ready, but also are designed to truly enhance the value proposition for our aspiring customers,” said Guenter Butschek, managing director and chief executive officer, Tata Motors.
He said the theme of the company’s pavilion at the expo is Connected to India: Responsible and Sustainable Mobility Solution. Tata Motors also announced the building of a commonly connected vehicle architecture, which will serve the entire portfolio across commercial, passenger and electric vehicles, to enable the extended digital ecosystem for its customers. It is also set to transit into BSVI emission norms from January onwards.
“The Tata Motors team has tirelessly worked towards a seamless transition to the BS-VI regime. With the customer at the centre of our plans, we have designed and engineered our products, keeping in mind the duty cycles and growing aspirations. From January 2020, we will be introducing over 100 lead models with over 1,000 variants,” said Rajendra Petkar, president and chief technology officer, Tata Motors.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen believes that its line-up would democratise the market in their respective segments. “Owing to ever-increasing consumer preferences for SUVs, Volkswagen plans to heavily focus on introducing its global line-up of SUV portfolio for the Indian market. Keeping in line with the brand’s core USP of building quality, safety and fun-to-drive elements, each of these cars will democratise the market in their respective segments,” the company said.
“We understand the rapidly changing preferences of our Indian consumers and in line with the same, we will introduce one of our biggest SUV offensive portfolios for the Indian shores… In India, we received tremendous response for our current SUV Volkswagen Tiguan and with our planned portfolio, we expect to define it further,” said Steffen Knapp, director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India.
Car manufacturers including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kia Motors and MG Motor will showcase their products at the biannual Auto Expo, while Honda, Toyota and Ford may give it a miss this year.