Tata Kite Caught on Test in India; Speculated Launch, Features, Price Details

Tata's upcoming entry level car Kite was caught on test in India for the first time on Sunday (13 July). Now hours later, a new batch of spy pictures of the upcoming car has hit the web again, indicating that the company is gearing up for an aggressive launch in the domestic market.

Tata Kite, a car which is likely to be slotted in between the company's upcoming hatchback Bolt and the world's cheapest Nano will be making its debut in the country next year. In the first set of spy pics released by the folks at Cartoq, the Tata Kite is seen highly clad in black camouflage, and the latest set of images by IndianautosBlog shows the car next to a partly-camouflaged Tata Nano F-Tronic AMT. Although it was rumoured to be a Tall-boy design, from the images it does not look so. Underpinning Tata's XO platform, upcoming Kite is likely to be manufactured at the company's Sanand plant in Gujarat.

Kite would be a significant launch of Tata as the car has to fight out immensely to get an upper hand in the market, which already has strong contenders like Maruti Celerio, Honda Brio and Hyundai Grand i10.

Tata Motors is also gearing up to launch its new sedan Zest and hatchback Bolt in the country. Zest and Bolt, which made its first appearances at the Delhi Auto Expo will be making its India entry in August and September this year respectively.

Both the cars will be offered in petrol and diesel engine options in the country. Zest will be powered by a 1.3 litre Quadrajet motor, producing 90 PS power at 4,000 rpm and 200 Nm torque at 1,750-3,000 rpm and 1.2 litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged Revotron engine, which can churn out a power of 85 PS at 5,000 rpm and a peak torque of 140 Nm at 1,750-3,000 rpm.

The petrol Bolt will come with 1.2 liter Revotron turbo petrol engine, which can churn out a power of 84 bhp at 5,000 rpm and a torque of 140 Nm at 1,750-3,500 rpm, the diesel version of the car will pack 1.3 liter Multijet diesel motor.