All you need to know about Tata Motors' TAMO
Tata Motors has officially unveiled its new sub-brand, TAMO. This sub-brand, according to Tata, will provide new mobility solutions and innovations. What this means is that all-new vehicles from Tata that aren't your run-of-the-mill products will be placed under the TAMO brand. This includes sportscars, premium vehicles and vehicles with alternative propulsion methods (hybrid, electric and maybe even fuel cell tech). It will bring in low-volume, low-investment cars in India, keeping in mind low cost of ownership, clean drivelines and a modular architecture. Tata has announced that it will reduce the number of platforms it uses from the current six to just two. This will prove to be very efficient and cost effective in the future.
The first of these platforms will be the AMP (Advanced Modular Platform). The Tata Tiago as well as the upcoming Kite 5 and Nexon are based on the initial version of the AMP. However, future vehicles from TAMO, like the X451 premium hatchback and possibly a premium sedan, will be based on a revised version of the AMP. The new platform will bring in bigger and more powerful versions of the Revotorq diesel and Revotron petrol engines.
We can also expect to see new automatic gearboxes like the one in the Hexa, from German brand Punch Powertrain. The X451 will be made to compete with cars like the Honda Jazz, Maruti Suzuki Baleno and the Elite i20. The premium sedan, which Tata is rumoured to be working on, will go up against the Hyundai Verna, Honda City and Maruti Suzuki Ciaz.
Tata is also expected to sell the Q501 and Q502 premium SUVs, under the TAMO brand. Both of these SUVs won't be based on the AMP underpinnings. Instead, they are expected to be based on a modified version of the Land Rover Freelander 2's platform – a platform Tata recently started manufacturing locally. The Q501, which will be a 5-seater SUV, is expected to slot into the premium crossover segment currently occupied by the Hyundai Tucson and Honda CR-V. The Q502 SUV, on the other hand, will be a 7-seater that is expected to take on the Toyota Fortuner and the Ford Endeavour.
Overall, the TAMO brand is based on an ideology similar to that of Maruti's Nexa – bringing in a new brand image. However, Tata seems to have far bigger plans for this brand than Maruti does for Nexa. Additionally, Tata will not have separate showrooms for TAMO products, unlike the Nexa dealerships.
For a while now, Tata has been focussing on improving the quality of its vehicles. To do this, the company had set up technical centres in India, UK, Italy and Korea. The brand is trying to combine European technology with India's frugal engineering techniques to offer good cars at competitive prices.
With TAMO, the brand is trying to plug every segment gap in the market with its new vehicles. The first one we expect to see is a sportscar. At the press conference, Tata Motors teased an image of a sportscar that it will unveil at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show next month.