Tata Tiago AMT will not come this year; launch likely in early 2017

Maruti Suzuki's Celerio AMT and Alto K10 AMT are already out on the ground playing a big part and it is soon expected to be joined by Renault's Kwid AMT.

It looks like there is finally more clarity on the launch of the automated manual transmission (AMT) variant of the popular Tiago in India. The latest reports on the web suggest that the Tiago AMT will make it to the market only in 2017, as Tata Motors has currently shifted its focus completely to its upcoming SUV the Hexa.

Although the Tiago AMT was expected to come during this festive season, a latest report of CarandBike says that the launch is delayed to 2017 as Tata is preparing for the launch of the Hexa and it is likely to be followed by the Tiago-based sedan the Kite 5. Tata is expected to launch the Hexa in 2017 and the Tiago AMT could come to the market by March 2017.

It remains to be seen if it is a wise decision to push back the launch of the Tiago AMT as the competition in the AMT segment too is getting tougher by the day. Maruti Suzuki's Celerio AMT and Alto K10 AMT are already out on the ground playing a big part and it is soon expected to be joined by Renault's Kwid AMT. The good part about the launch of the Tiago AMT as of now is that the company has started putting it through tests on the Indian roads and photographers have also managed to capture it.

Speaking of the changes, the Tiago, the hatchback that is currently adding sizeable numbers to the sales of Tata, will remain in its current style and design in the AMT avatar too, except for the addition of the AMT box and the minor tweaks to accommodate it. The Tiago AMT is expected to get five-speed AMT box. Tata currently has two AMT models in its line-up -- GenX Nano and Zest -- and is expected to offer the AMT box in Tiago petrol models.

While the petrol mill of the Tiago churns out 83.8bhp of power at 6,000rpm and 114Nm of torque at 3,500rpm, the 1.05- diesel engine produces 69bhp of power 4,000rpm and 140Nm of torque at 1,800-3,000rpm. Both the engines come mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. Tiago claims to deliver a mileage of 23.84 kmpl for petrol and 27.28 kmpl for diesel.