The Altroz premium hatchback is among the most eagerly awaited upcoming vehicles from Tata. First shown as the 45X concept during the 2018 Delhi Auto Expo, the car was displayed at the 2019 Geneva motor show in a near-production form. Later, it was revealed that the Altroz would be launched by August-September this year. Now, the launch date has been postponed, say our sources at Tata. Tata now plans to launch the Altroz premium hatchback in early 2020, most probably in January. That is because Tata had earlier announced that the Altroz will be the official lead car of the Mumbai Marathon, which is scheduled to take place on 19th January. Hence, it will most probably be launched before that.
Talking about the Altroz, the premium hatchback will rival the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Hyundai Elite i20, Honda Jazz, and the Toyota Glanza in the segment when launched. This will be Tata’s first take on the premium hatchback game and the manufacturer plans to take on the competition by equipping the Altroz with numerous features along with powerful engine options. A few spyshots of the hatchback that were leaked earlier had revealed that the cabin has a modern design and looks quite good.
The interiors are likely to be finished in black and grey while the top-end variants would have a blue accent running across the center console. Tata is likely to offer soft-touch plastics on the car so as to make the cabin a more premium place to be in. The instrument console will be an analogue-digital unit with the speedometer being an analogue unit and the tachometer being a digital unit. The steering wheel features the typical Tata design with audio controls on the left-hand side and cruise control on the right-hand side.
As for the powertrains, it is expected that the Altroz will be offered with turbocharged petrol and diesel engines. The petrol engine could be the 1.2-litre 3 cylinders turbocharged petrol engine from the Nexon, albeit in a lower state of tune so as to offer better fuel economy. The diesel engine is likely to be the 1.5-liter 4-cylinder turbocharged motor from Nexon but again in a detuned state. Initially, Tata is likely to offer manual gearboxes with both engines with automatic options following later on.
When launched, the Altroz is expected to be priced in the Rs. 5-8 lakhs range. Tata has been positioning its products well of late and the same is expected to be the case with the Altroz. This will also be the first vehicle to be underpinned by the new ALFA platform from Tata which will also be used on several future vehicles like the Hornbill mini-SUV.