Tata 45X premium hatchback: Gorgeous pictures of the Maruti Baleno & Hyundai i20 rival

Tata Motors showcased the 45X premium hatchback concept at the Auto Expo 2018. This car will challenge the Hyundai i20 Elite and the Maruti Baleno, when it’s launched during the second half of 2019.

In terms of styling, the 45X features the Impact 2.0 design language that Tata Motors will use on its news cars. The car will be based on the Advanced Modular Platform, which will be used for a lot of new Tata cars in future, including sedans, MPVs and SUVs.

Like the H5X, the 45X features futuristic styling, much of which will be toned down in the production model. For example, the panoramic roof, futuristic dashboard, the Playstation-style steering wheel will all be replaced for items that are cheaper, and also more practical.

However, the overall design of the production car will look similar to the concept. This is something that’ll excite car buyers in India as the Baleno and Elite i20 will finally get some really good looking competition.

The 45X will borrow its engines from the Tata Tiago, but both the petrol and diesel engines will feature variable geometry turbochargers. This will allow the engines to be a lot more powerful than the ones in the Tiago. The 45X will get manual gearboxes as standard but Tata is also working on twin clutch automatic options.

Details of other specifications are not available for now but we do know that the production version will not have the same, 4,253 mm length of the concept. The length will be cut down to a little under 4 meters for Tata to gain excise duty benefits on the new car.

The 2,630 mm wheelbase though, could be retained. The 20 inch wheels on the concept are also likely to be discarded in favour of more practical 16 inch units on the production version. The big question is, will Tata price the 45X’s production version lower than the Baleno and i20, and stun market yet again…