Tata Considering New Mini Truck (Between Ace & Super Ace)


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Today's Hindu reports that Tata Motors will soon be launching a new mini truck, to be positioned between the Ace and Super Ace. The report doesn't tell about the technical specs other than the fact that it will have a CRDI engine.

Will it feature the 0.8 litre CRDI engine developed for the Nano? TM could also use the 3 cylinder 1.05 litre Indica derived block.

Here's the link to the news report:

Tata Motors to launch new mini-truck - The Hindu

Tata Motors is preparing to launch a new small commercial vehicle (SCV) in the next few weeks.

The new vehicle is to be positioned between Ace and Super Ace, Tata’s mini and pick-up trucks respectively.

The strategy is to attract buyers that may include small entrepreneurs, traders and retailers who are looking for slightly higher power and more load capacity than Ace. The product is expected to be launched in a month’s time.

“We are yet to give a brand name, but it will have the name Ace and something. The new small truck will offer high initial torque, and sport a common rail engine. It will also be priced lower than Super Ace and Ashok Leyland Dost,” Ravi Pisharody, Executive Director-Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors, told this correspondent .

With widened product offerings in the SCV segment, which comprises sub-1 tonne payload mini trucks and above 1-tonne payload pick- ups, Tata hopes to fight the emerging competition strongly as more players are in the fray for LCV.

“This segment will be very strong though it is presently hit as financiers have become ultra cautious in lending. SCV segment will never get saturated as mini-trucks like Ace will be a good form of employment generator for semi-literate or illiterate people to take up some jobs instead of being a just helper or worker. The current scenario is, therefore, a temporary correction as economy has slumped. The segment will get back to growth mode soon,” he added.

Experts are of the view that SCV segment would grow at above industry average driven by the need for last mile connectivity and relatively low penetration in rural markets. Also, the ratio between light and medium and heavy truck segment is still very low in India when compared to developed economies, and, hence, there is huge scope for volume growth in the coming years.

Tata Motors, which changed the face of LCV industry with the launch of its 4-wheeled goods carrying mini truck Ace in 2005, presently commands a market share of about 48 per cent in SCV category, which falls under 3.5 tonne GVW (gross vehicle weight) LCV segment.
 
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Tata Working On New Small Commercial Vehicle Platform

After experiencing a decade long success with the Ace commercial vehicle, Tata is working to develop a new small commercial vehicle platform to address the changing needs in the segment.

Ace is currently the market leader in the small commercial vehicle segment
After hitting the right spot with the Ace mini-truck in the commercial vehicle segment for the last 10 years, it seems that Tata is working to develop a completely new platform for small commercial vehicles to gain a larger market share in the same segment. Since the Tata Ace range of vehicles were launched back in 2005, the mini commercial vehicle has now crossed the 1.5 million sales mark. Since the Ace platform is quite old now, Tata has realised that a new platform needs to be worked upon so as to meet the changing requirements of their customers.

The Ace range of commercial vehicles has been updated continuously so as to fill many of the voids present in the market, mainly due to which the Ace portfolio became the market leader. Tata Motors managed to sell around 5 lakh units of the Ace between 2005 to 2010 and the total sales mark reached 10 lakh units by 2012. The 15 lakh sales milestone was also crossed recently this year. The Indian manufacturer promises to bring more such similar products to the market in order to suffice the needs for last mile transportation.

Though the small commercial vehicle (SCV) segment is shrinking, the Ace’s share continues to increase. The Tata Ace range is manufactured from the company’s plant in Pantnagar in Uttarakhand with an annual capacity of 90,000 units and demand for the next two years can be met at the present level comfortably. With 12 products on offer based on different engine types and body configurations for both goods and passenger transportation, the Ace is retailed through 1600 showrooms across the country.
 
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I feel with the success of Ace, I think they should bring in the higher ACE variant above the Zip and try to deprecate the xenon and try positioning Xenon as a personal use UV and an able off roader
 
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perhaps the MM Jeeto is giving them food for thought? Cant figure why the Zip has not caught on as an auto alternative-in kerala see plenty,but not elsewhere;in chennai the ace magic is used as a local taxi but not so much in other cities down south?
 

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