First Tata Altroz premium hatchback rolls out of the factory

The first Altroz premium hatchback rolled out earlier today, from the Tata Motors’ Pimpri factory near Pune. The Altroz will be launched in early January, and the first few hundred cars will begin reaching dealerships across India for test drives. We expect test drives of the car to open shortly. The Altroz is the first premium hatchback from Tata Motors, and will take on the likes of the Maruti Baleno and the Hyundai Elite i20. It’s based on Tata Motors’ Advanced Modular Platform (AMP) or Alfa. The new platform will spawn a number of other car models, with the upcoming Hornbill micro one such model. The Altroz is likely to be cheaper than the Hyundai Elite i20 and Maruti Baleno, and with the new hatchback Tata Motors could do a Tiago to this segment.

The premium hatchback could be offered with three engine options: a 1.2 liter-3 cylinder naturally aspirated petrol with 84 Bhp-115 Nm, and borrowed from the Tiago for the entry level variants, a 1.2 liter turbocharged petrol engine from the Tata Nexon for higher versions, and a 1.5 liter turbocharged diesel engine from the Nexon. The turbocharged petrol and diesel engines could get detuned in the interest of fuel efficiency. This shouldn’t reduce too much of pep as the Altroz will be much lighter than the Nexon. While manual gearboxes will be standard with all the engines, it remains to be seen if Tata Motors offers AMT options on the turbo petrol and diesel engines.

If that pans out, the Altroz will be the only car in the premium hatchback segment to get petrol and diesel automatic options. The car – as revealed through the roll out today – remains similar to the concept that was shown at the Geneva Motor Show of 2019. It’s a fresh looking car that will age well, and the styling is conservative enough to call it classy. The top-end variants are likely to have a sporty touch in the form of blacked out bits: wing mirrors, door handles, the roof and the hatchlid spoiler. Even the headlamps may get a blacked out look on the top-end trims. Expect a starting price close to Rs. 5 lakh for the Altroz’s base trim. Tata Motors may even plan to spring a price surprise by pegging the base variant of the car in the 4-5 lakh segment, making it very attractive to a lot of buyers who’d otherwise have opted for a smaller hatchback.