Tata Motors is gearing up for the launch of the all-new Altroz which is slated for 22 January. We have already driven the new premium hatchback in both petrol and diesel guise. Now, ahead of the official launch, Tata has commenced the booking for an amount of Rs 21,000. Along with it, the carmaker has introduced an online configurator for the Altroz. Developed by Mumbai-based Eccentric Engine, this configurator can be used on both mobile phone as well on the website. The visualisation is powered by Eccentric Engine's new One 3D Platform which enables everything you see on the configurator. In this report we give you a detailed look at the new configurator for your Tata premium hatchback and how convenient it is to personalise your Altroz.
Firstly, once it’s initiated on mobile browser we found that the Altroz configurator works only if the phone is in landscape mode. And its best used on full-screen setting. It does take some loading time for the configurator to come up but that is acceptable because once it is up and running we found the interface to be smooth and without any lag. Although the Altroz in the configurator is animated we wouldn’t say the graphics or detailing leave much to be desired. Eccentric Engines have done a good job of making the overall experience of the configurator pretty simple and convenient.
You can zoom in or zoom out to see finer details or hover around for a complete 360degree view of the hatchback. Besides that, there are settings for changing the day-night setup of the background too. We found the interface to be responsive, fuss-free and easy to use. However, it is slightly counter-intuitive when you look at the interiors, but you do get used to it in quick time. And you also get views of both the rows on the inside but there’s no zooming feature here.
Also, this being a digital rendering and not an actual image of the vehicle in the configurator, you do get a whitewash on exterior panels when viewed from a certain angle. This also means that the paint consistency isn’t up to the mark. Apart from that, you have to work slightly on working with zooming in and out too. We loved how quickly the transition happens when you make any changes be it adding a pack, viewing a specific highlight or switching paints, trims or features.
On the top of the screen, you could see tabs reading – Features, Variant, Customise. Once on the Variants tab, there is a list of card with details of all the available trims – XE, XM, XT, XZ and XZ (O). Each card gets details about the features available on that specific trims. Moreover, each card also lists available packs on each trim. There’s Rhythm pack for XE, Rhythm and Style pack for XM, Luxe pack for XT and Urban pack for XZ trims. These optional packages cost an additional Rs 10,000.
In conclusion, irrespective of whether it is the mobile website or the desktop website that you use to configure the Altroz, we found the both the interfaces to be very usable and uncomplicated. However, there’s no mobile app for the configurator which we think could offer a better experience than the browser. That said, the details available on it – be its features list, variant cards or pack details – are straightforward and simple to view and understand. And in the end, you can simply book your Altroz at the click of a button.
