Tata Plans ‘Pelican’, a Rival for Alto

Nano was not a runaway success as expected but is/was one of the most talked about cars in India. While the company works on making it a smart city car, a latest report at Business Standard talks about a new car – Pelican!

Pelican (codename) will be based on the X302 platform which is nothing but an upgraded version of Nano. It is expected to sit over Nano and possibly under Kite (hatchback). The report further says that along with a 1-liter petrol engine, Pelican will come equipped with an 800cc diesel engine, possibly the one which Tata was testing for Nano as well and will be company’s smallest diesel motor.

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Tata Connectnext concept showcased at Auto Expo

Pelican may be manufactured alongside Nano at Tata’s Sanand plant which has a capacity to produce 20,000 units per month. Being cautious this time, Tata is setting a more realistic sales target of about 2500 units per month which might look modest but will be a good point to begin with.

Pelican may be a slightly bigger hatchback in size than Nano and a more apt rival to the Alto and Eon. It may go on to become the cheapest diesel car in the country, when launched.

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MotorBash’s exclusive spy pics of Nano diesel under test

Apart from Pelican, Tata Motors is working on Kite hatchback (Indica replacement) and Kite-based compact sedan (under Zest), compact SUV (production version of Nexon), Q501/Q502 Premium SUVs and facelifts/upgrades of existing car models. They are about to launch Bolt hatchback within a couple of days in India.

Related: Should Bolt Start at Shockingly Low Prices? How About 3.99 Lakhs? [PICS]

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