Indian car major Tata Motors unveiled the Tata Bolt hatchback at the Geneva Motor Show, yesterday. Recently, a Tata Bolt was spotted testing with camouflage which raised speculations that it could be a European model with a different fascia. And much to our amusement, Tata showed the same car that we saw at the Expo this year.
The European-spec Bolt will also get similar powertrains the 1.2-litre petrol engine that produces 83bhp and 140Nm of torque, but the 1.3-litre multijet diesel engine will be the 89bhp variant with a VGT. Both these engines will be mated to a five-speed manual gearbox; however, we had expected Tata to showcase the Bolt with an automatic transmission.
The Bolt is the result of a combined effort between Tata’s design studio in Pune, Coventry (Great Britain) and Turin (Italy). The result is a design that is far more pleasing than the older Tata hatchbacks. The interiors too are a far cry from the older Tata hatchbacks, with the levels of quality and equipment improving. The interiors get a five-inch touch screen a human-machine-interface on the centre console which controls the AC, Bluetooth connectivity, and smart phones. This was the Achilles Heel of the previous Tata cars and they have done well here.
The car gets updates in the suspension and a new speed sensitive electronic power assisted (EPS) steering with ‘Active return’ function, which was introduced first in the Tata Nano Twist.
In India, the car might be launched somewhere around the third quarter or during the festive season of Diwali.
Source: IAB
