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TELCO developing petrol Siera, Safari

Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company, or TELCO, is planning to roll out a 2-litre petrol version of its sports utility vehicles -- Siera and Safari -- by the end of the 2000 calendar year, a senior company executive said.

In addition, the company is also contemplating to launch a soft-top version of its popular multi-utility vehicle Sumo, Rajiv Dube, general manager (commercial) of TELCO's passenger car business unit, said.

''We are actively working on the 2-litre petrol versions of Siera and Safari. We expect to roll out the vehicle by this year-end. The exact launch date has not yet been formalised, but the vehicles are undergoing extensive tests," Dube said.

The engines for both the vehicles are being developed in-house. The company is also yet to finalise the price positioning of the two vehicles vis-a-vis their diesel counterparts.

Currently, the Safari is powered by a 2-litre turbo-charged diesel engine and is priced in the range of Rs 900,000. The new Safari will have an electronic fuel injection petrol engine that will deliver 130hp power.

Regarding the soft-top Sumo, Dube said, "The version is currently on the planning horizon. We are yet to take a final view and decision on the same.''

The company had recently introduced a direct injection engine-powered version of the Sumo, christened Spacio. The vehicle has been positioned opposite Mahindra Commander and Marshal.

In addition, the company had also launched the Euro-II compliant multi-point fuel injection petrol version of its small car Indica in two versions -- LEi at Rs 318,000 (ex-showroom Delhi) and LXi at Rs 396,000 (ex-showroom Delhi).

The car is packed with a 16-bit microprocessor-controlled engine management system and delivers 75bhp power making it the most powerful car in its class.

TELCO has set a sales target of 90,000 Indica cars in 2000-2001 as compared to 54,480 cars sold in the previous year.

The Indica was launched in December 1998 and had attracted fully paid bookings of over 115,000. The car has gained a marketshare of 8.8 per cent of the total passenger car market and 21 per cent of cars in its category during the first full year of operations.

The company had recorded a 113 per cent surge in passenger car sales in May, 2000, to 5,193 units as against 2,430 units a year ago. The May sales included 16 units that were exported from India.

Its car production during the month increased 129 per cent from 2,577 units to 5,917 units.

Passenger car sales for the first two months of the 2000-01 fiscal stood at 10,404 units, up 149 per cent from 4,173 units a year ago.

TELCO's total sales in May, including commercial vehicles, utility vehicles and cars, was 15,187 units, up 30.79 per cent as compared to 11,611 units a year ago. Its production for the month was up 37 per cent to 17,114 units, from 12,429 units a year ago.

UNI

Business