Launched on January 22, 2020, Tata Motors’ premium hatchback with 1.2 petrol and 1.5 diesel engines and also a CNG variant is just 6,500 units shy of the 250,000 sales milestone and since FY2021 has contributed 15.5% to the company's total passenger vehicle sales.
22 Jan 2024 | 15536 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
The Altroz, Tata Motors’ first premium hatchback, turns four years old today. Launched on January 22, 2020, the Tata Altroz has, till end-December 2023, sold an estimated 243,577 units in the Indian market.
This means the Tata Altroz is just about 6,400-odd units shy of the 250,000-unit ...
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The Altroz, Tata Motors’ first premium hatchback, turns four years old today. Launched on January 22, 2020, the Tata Altroz has, till end-December 2023, sold an estimated 243,577 units in the Indian market.
This means the Tata Altroz is just about 6,400-odd units shy of the 250,000-unit milestone, which it should surpass either in January or early February 2024 given that it has averaged monthly wholesales of 6,074 units in the first nine months of FY2024.
The Altroz is currently available in as many as 34 variants (22 petrol, 6 diesel and 6 petrol-CNG) with 1.2 petrol, 1.2 turbo petrol and 1.5 diesel engines. The car’s pricing ranges from Rs 800,000 (1.2 petrol Revotron XE manual) through to Rs 12.60 lakh (1.2 XZ+O (S) CNG MT. The Altroz CNG’s pricing starts at Rs 889,000 for the 1.2 CNG XE MT (all prices, on-road Delhi).
The stylish, high-on-value hatchback raced past the 50,000-unit sales mark within a year of launch. Then, 10 months later, on September 21, 2021, the 100,000th Altroz rolled out from Tata Motors’ Pune plant. The 200,000-unit sales milestone was surpassed in June 2023, 42 months after launch.
Altroz DCA taps demand for automatics, CNG variant expands choice
In March 2022, in an effort to rev up sales and to cater to growing demand for automatic transmission-equipped cars, Tata Motors launched the Altroz DCA, equipped with a dual-clutch transmission from Punch Powertrain. Five months after it revealed both the Altroz CNG along with Punch CNG compact SUV at the Auto Expo 2023, Tata Motors launched the Altroz CNG on May 22 at Rs 755,000. The Altroz CNG debuted the carmaker's new dual-cylinder setup for CNG tanks and was, at the time, the first CNG-powered hatchback in India to sport a sunroof.
The Altroz CNG is powered by a 1.2-litre petrol engine mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. In petrol mode, it develops 88hp and 115Nm of torque, whereas in CNG mode, it produces 77hp and 103Nm of torque. In comparison, its direct rivals – Maruti Suzuki Baleno CNG and Toyota Glanza CNG – produce a similar 77hp but a lesser 98.5Nm of torque in their CNG modes. Furthermore, unlike these two rivals, the Altroz can start directly in CNG mode.
The Altroz, which is the first Tata car to use the ALFA (Agile Light Flexible Advanced) architecture, was the 36th made-in-India car to be crash-tested by Global NCAP (under the previous protocol) and became the company’s second – after the Tata Nexon – and India’s second GNCAP five-star rated car.
The Altroz, which is part of Tata Motors’ ‘New Forever’ range along with the Tiago, Tigor, Nexon, Punch, Harrier and Safari, continues to make a sizeable contribution to the company’s accelerated growth drive over the past four years.
Altroz drives towards best-ever fiscal sales in FY2024: 70,000-plus units
Proof that the Tata Altroz has seen sustained demand in the face of the accelerating consumer shift to SUVs over the past four years, lies in its sales numbers. Despite FY2021 being a pandemic-impacted year, the Altroz sold 60,379 units and 62,247 units in FY2022, up 3% year on year. However, sales fell 7% in FY2023 to 57,819 units.
In the first nine months of FY2024, Altroz sales have surpassed 54,000 units and the Altroz CNG variant, launched on May 22, 2023, has helped increase demand for this snazzy Tata hatchback. At an estimated 54,674 units in the April-December 2023 period, YTD FY2024 wholesales are already 94% of FY2023’s 57,819 units and 88% of FY2022’s 62,247 units. Expect the Altroz to clock best-ever fiscal year sales in the region of 72,000 to 75,000 units in FY2024.
Tata Motors is maintaining its strong run and achieved its best-ever annual sales in CY2023 with 550,838 PVs including 69,153 EVs, following up on its best-ever fiscal sales of 538,640 units in FY2023. Of the carmaker’s cumulative sales covering FY2021 to FY2024 (April-December 2023) sales of 15,65,988 units, the Altroz, which remains one of the nicest-looking hatchbacks in India, has contributed an estimated 243,577 units or 15.55%, ensuring the company remains a strong player in the premium hatchback segment.
The Altroz will be getting its first major update this year, to take on freshened-up competition from the Maruti Baleno and Hyundai i20. Along with some design changes to bring the Altroz in line with newer Tata passenger cars, the stylish hatchback will see an updated interior. The new features expected include larger 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment, a 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster, ventilated front seats, six airbags, wireless charging and also an air purifier.
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