Tata Readying Maruti Celerio Rival Kite; Launch in 2015

Tata Motors is reportedly working on a new entry level car to slot in between the company's upcoming hatchback Bolt and the world's cheapest Nano.

The new car codenamed Kite is likely to make its entry into the highly competitive entry level car segment in the domestic market in late 2015, reported Auto Economic Times. The new Kite would be manufactured at the company's Sanand plant in Gujarat, which has a manufacturing capacity of 250,000 units/annum. According to the reports, the newly developing Kite would consume the major capacity of the Tata's Gujarat Plant.

"The company is looking at the vast potential as its current models like Indica cannot serve the small car market and Nano has not achieved the desired results. Kite would be placed in between the Nano and the Indica," a source close the development project told ET.

Kite, the company's second Tall-boy design is likely to be based on Tata's XO platform and in the sub-continent market the car would be pitted against Maruti Celerio. Although the other details of Kite are yet to be known, a report of Rushlane suggests that the car could get 3 cylinder 800 cc or 4 cylinder 1.2 litre turbo petrol engine and a 1.05 litre 3 cylinder diesel engine.

In its attempt to regain its position in the domestic market, Tata is also expected to launch its Bolt and Zest in the country during this festive season. Bolt, the new hatchback offering from Tata was first seen at the Delhi Auto Expo 2014 along with Zest.

Bolt will be offered in both petrol and diesel engine options. While the petrol model of the Bolt will come with the 1.2 liter Revotron turbo petrol engine which can churn out a power of 84 bhp at 5000 rpm and a torque of 140 Nm of 1750-3500 rpm, the diesel version of the car will pack 1.3 liter Multijet diesel motor.

On the other hand, Tata Zest, India's first sedan with Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) technologies will also be offered in both petrol and diesel variants. The petrol version of Zest will be powered by a 1.2 litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged Revotron engine under the hood, which can churn out a power of 85 PS at 5000 rpm and a peak torque of 140 Nm 1750-3000 rpm. The diesel model will come with a 1.3 litre Quadrajet motor, which can generate 90 PS power at 4000 rpm and 200 Nm torque at 1750-3000 rpm.

In May, Tata Motors reported 24 percent decline in total vehicle sales to 37,525. The domestic passenger as well as commercial vehicle sales declined by 24 percent to 34,334 units in May, down from 45,430 units in the corresponding month last year.

While the sales of passenger vehicles stood at 9,230 units in May 2014, the company sold 6,932 units of Nano, Indica and Indigo cars and 2,298 units of Sumo, Safari, Aria and Venture vehicles in May.