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MUMBAI, March 5

TATA Engineering has unveiled a 7-seater multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) concept, christened `Tata Indiva', at the Geneva International Motor Show.

Styled by Italian design house IDEA, the model is based on the Indica platform. With this, models based on the Indica platform span the original hatchback, the 2-seater coupe / roadster concepts of Tata Aria and the 3-box Tata Sedan (displayed at Auto Expo 2002 and due for serial production for the domestic market in the latter part of current year).

Also on the anvil, is an `Estate' version scheduled for launch by early next year, targeted mainly at the European market.

An official statement said the MPV concept should be attractive to European customers, besides the evolving Indian market.

Contacted, a Tata Engineering spokesperson said, no date had been set for the vehicle's domestic introduction, though given the potential at home, manufacture should be in India. For the Aria, the company had cited potential for manufacture abroad.

"The Indiva is only a concept,'' he said. Its engine parameters have not been frozen though it is conceptualised "to be powered by its own Euro III / Euro IV MPFI gasoline and turbo-charged inter-cooled diesel engine.''

Positioning the concept's debut against the backdrop of encouraging response to the Indica hatchback, Safari and Telcoline (pick-up) in European countries, the statement said the Indiva's unveiling was "an indicator of Tata Engineering's global ambitions, especially its strong focus in the highly competitive European market.''

According to it, the Indiva is among the shortest 7-seaters conceived with an overall length of "just under 4.3 metres.'' It has high seating position, flexible interior lay-out and on-board electronic systems integrating a high level of in-car entertainment, navigation and Internet connectivity.

Noteworthy in the evolution of the Indica project is the similarity it has with such platform-based initiatives by global automobile majors. For instance, against the hatchback, sedan, estate, roadster, coupe and MPV line-up from Indica, Fiat Auto's `Project 178' has spawned on the Palio platform, the hatchback Palio, the Palio Weekend (estate), the Adventure (sporty estate), the 3-box Siena, a van and a pick-up.

Europe has emerged an important market abroad for Tata Engineering, the company having begun shipping that side in 1992 with the Tata Telcoline one-tonne pick-up truck.

Export markets for the Safari, Telcoline and Indica include Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, Hungary, Greece, Portugal and Malta.

Telcoline currently has a 4-6 per cent market share while the Safari has 2-4 per cent share, in their relevant segments, the statement said.

In Spain, Tata Engineering has a network of 54 fully integrated dealers (over 110 sub-dealers / service points) and in Italy, over 70 fully integrated dealers (40-50 sub-dealers / service points).

Further, the UK is covered through roughly 50 main dealers, almost 25 dealers doing the same in Portugal.

Currently, close to 40,000 Tata vehicles ply on European roads, the statement said.

Recently, Tata Engineering had confirmed ongoing talks with British automobile manufacturer, Rover, to export the Indica to the UK.

If it is succesful, exports will be as CBUs, starting by the middle of next year.

Tata Engineering estimates that over five years, it can ship 60,000-70,000 units to the UK.

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