In June, this year, Tata Motors launched the refreshed Indigo eCS complete with petrol and diesel variants at the Horizonext event. Plans to equip the car with a CNG kit were being discussed then and now Team-BHP’s reports reveal that Tata Motors is all set to launch the Indigo eCS CNG soon. We can expect the car by mid November in showrooms, right in time for the festive season.
Part of the eMAX series, the Nano, Indica and Indigo eCS were the three cars that were to be given the CNG kits. They were included in the refreshed line-up of eight cars that Tata Motors had announced for 2013. The Nano CNG has already been launched, while bookings for the CNG-powered Indigo eCS are likely to be opened in the next few days. The Indigo eCS CNG will be positioned under the car's diesel engined variant. We expect the car to be priced from Rs 5.50 lakh to Rs 5.80 lakh.
The Tata Indigo eCS CNG is based on the petrol model and is powered by the same 1.2-litre four-cylinder engine delivering 65bhp and 100Nm of torque. Running on CNG the same engine produces 56bhp and 90Nm of torque. Tata Motors claims to have a fuel efficiency of 24 Km/Kg of CNG. The 42-litre petrol tank will be retained as it is, making the Indigo eCS CNG a dual fuel car. The change between the two modes will be done through a dashboard mounted switch.
The Indica eV2's CNG variant is also likely to be launched soon as the car shares its engine and transmission with the Indigo eCS CNG. The CNG tank capacity of the Indica CNG will be same as that of the Indigo eCS CNG model.
Sales of the CNG variant will be limited to those places in the country where there is availability of fuelling stations such as Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
Tata Motors is aggressively repositioning its passenger car segment and intends to target cab fleets and sedan buyers looking for a cost-effective option with the Indigo eCS CNG variant.
Source: Team—BHP
