Tata unveils hatchback Zica; to hit market in January 2016

The latter will likely be a downsized version of Tata’s 1.4-liter mill and both of them will work with a standard manual gearbox or an optional automated manual transmission.

Tata Motors had fallen behind the likes of Honda, Toyota and Mahindra & Mahindra in the Indian passenger vehicles market from being the third largest player at one point of time as its products, including the Nano, failed to deliver.

Tata Motors has released images of its “Zica” which is expected to be launched in the first week of January 2016 to take on its rivals like Hyundai i10, Maruti Celerio and the Chevrolet Beat. Though there is no official word yet about its pricing, it is expected to fall in the sub-Rs. In August last year, it had launched Zest compact sedan, its first new model in four years. However, it shares very little design elements with the other two. The vehicle is built on an all new platfrom and it’s slotted by the company between the Tata Nano and Tata Indica. Zica will get a set of alloy wheels and fog lights that come with a chrome bezel.

The hatchback underpins a slightly modified XO platform, and likely to be introduced as replacement to the ageing Indica eV2.

High-spec variants of the Zica are said to feature dual-front airbags, electric power steering, ABS with EBD braking, rear parking sensors, wing mirrors with integrated turn signals and more. While the former is good for 75bhp of power and 120Nm of torque, the oil burner produces 64bhp and 142Nm of torque. The diesel on the other hand will be an all-new 1.0-litre that will make 70PS and 140Nm.