Tata Motors and its Philippine affiliate Pilipinas
Taj Inc. unveiled the Tata SFC 407 Jeepney concept in July. It is a 15-to-20
seater bus designed around the guidelines issued by the Philippine National
Standard committee on the government’s PUJ (public utility jeep) modernization
program.
The Jeepney concept is based on the SFC 407 (Tata
407) light truck. It looks production ready, featuring a slightly more upscale
design than the SFC 407 trucks. It is a minibus with a single entrance and
offers seating for 22 passengers in two full-size rows across the sides. In the
current portfolio, Tata sells PUJ’s that have 25 or more seats in the
Philippines. The rear cabin design is roughly 1 to 1.6 meters taller than the
aft sections of current Tata PUJs. The windows are significantly larger, and
the single ingress-egress location is at the cabin’s right section.
Under the hood is a 3.0-litre turbocharged
four-cylinder turbodiesel engine that develops 75 PS at 2,800 rpm and 225 Nm of
torque from 1,500-1,800 rpm. It is paired with a 5-speed manual transmission
that sends power to the rear wheels. Fuel tank capacity is 60 litres.
In the Philippines, Tata sells the Prima Range of
Tractor Trailers and Tippers, the LPT range of Light, Medium and Heavy Trucks,
SFC 407, and the Mini Trucks range of Ace and Super Ace.
