NEW DELHI: Tata Motors on Wednesday launched its first ever CNG vehicles in Tiago and Tigor trims, priced between Rs 6.09 lakh and Rs 8.41 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). With this, Tata Motors entered the fast growing CNG (compressed natural gas) vehicle market which at present is dominated by Maruti Suzuki and has offerings from Hyundai.
Tata, which dominates India’s small EV market with around 70% share, said that its CNG offering stands out from the other options available as the vehicles come with premium features. “Many consumers feel that current CNG cars are not meeting their expectations and they just come with basic features ,” Rajan Amba - Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Customer Care, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles told TNIE.
“What we have done is we have put in the premium end of Tiago and Tigor and even upgraded it from the gasoline model. This is not your ordinary CNG offering. Also, from performance per se, this is the most powerful CNG car in the market,” added Amba.
The new Tiago iCNG and Tigor iCNG are powered by 1.2 litre BSVI engine which produces maximum power of 73PS . The iCNG cars come with seamless shifting of fuel modes from petrol to CNG and vice-versa. Mileage wise, Tiago and Tigor CNG models have an ARAI-claimed fuel economy of 26.49km/kg. In contrast, the recently launched Maruti Celerio CNG claims a fuel economy of 35.60km/kg.
Amba expects these two models to account for anywhere between 7-10% of Tata’s PV sales. “In H1FY2022, sales of CNG cars grew by around 100% over the first half of last financial year. The growth has been supported by steep rise in petrol/diesel prices and also accelerated by many brands coming in the market.”
Personal buyers
Tata would target personal buyers. The demand for CNG cars to be robust and the two models are expected to account for 7-10% of Tata’s PV sales.