Tata Motors revealed 45X concept at the 2018 Auto
Expo. The Indian manufacturer confirmed that the concept will make it in to a
production. Now the company has began road testing of 45X in public roads as
the test mule was spotted in Mumbai. The prototype is an early one as the
headlamp and tail lamp design is not yet finalized.
The body of the prototype is heavily camouflaged but
we can notice somethings like the position of mirrors on door instead of the
A-pillar. The window on rear door doesn’t go all the way down like its
competitors and the rear glass area is small which is similar to the concept
model showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo.
We can expect the interior of 45X to be premium with
quality of materials used inside the cabin to be better than current Tata
products. The 45X will come with lots of features including touch screen
infotainment system, climate control, steering mounted controls, automatic
headlamp, automatic wiper, cooled glove box and more.
The hatchback will be spacious with good knee room
for front and rear passengers. The 45X is based on AMT platform of Tata Motors
and this platform could be used for other products including compact SUVs. We
are expecting the 45X to be powered by 1.2 L petrol and 1.5 L diesel engine
from Nexon to be used which will give excellent performance for the hatchback.
The 1.2 L turbocharged petrol engine produces 110 PS
of power and 170 Nm of torque. The 1.5 L diesel engine puts out 110 PS of power
and 260 Nm of torque. These engines are mated to 6 speed manual and AMT
gearbox. The 45X is going to be the most powerful product in its class and
these engines will return excellent mileage also.
Tata Motors is also focusing
on ride and handling. In future, we can expect the Indian manufacture to
introduce performance variant based on the regular model. The 45X will be
launched later this year or early next year and compete against Hyundai Elite
i20, Maruti Suzuki Baleno and Honda Jazz.
