Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, launched the Ultra Sleek T-Series range of intermediate and light commercial trucks targeted at urban freight movement with a starting price of Rs 13.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Developed on the modular platform of Ultra, the T-Series range is launched with three models having deck lengths of 10 feet, 14 feet, and 17 feet and a good carrying payload of 3.3 to 5.2 tonne. The middle variant priced at Rs 15.29 lakh and the top-end priced at Rs 17.29 lakh.
Girish Wagh, president, commercial vehicle business unit, Tata Motors said, “The T-Series range is complementary to our exiting range. The development of the series started with the idea of changing needs for urban transportation where a sleeker and wide cabin and efficient transportation solution was desired. The Ultra T-Series manages to address all that”.
Tata Motors stated that the walk-through cabin is crash-tested and comes equipped with adjustable seat height, tilt-and-telescopic power steering, and a dashboard-mounted gear lever. Also on offer is the in-built music system, USB fast charging port, air brakes, and parabolic leaf suspension along with clear-lens headlamps and LED tail-lamps.
With options of 4 and 6 tire combinations the T-Series can cater to the e-commerce industry, FMCG, industrial goods, LPG cylinders, and refrigerated containers for transportation of Covid-19 vaccine, pharmaceuticals as well as food items such as eggs, milk, and fresh farm produce.
The trucks come with an indigenously built 100bhp diesel engine with a torque rating of 300nm. Being a modular platform Tata Motors has kept the option of increasing the power in the future.
“This is modular platform enables us to have multiple drivetrains and powertrains. We have the option of getting other engines onboard the T-Series”, Wagh added.
The domestic commercial volumes of Tata Motors returned to the black in February when the company clocked a growth of 21 percent compared to the same month last year. Though the growth was comparable to the low base of last year when the industry was in the midst of the transition to Bharat Stage VI a spike in the volume indicated a revival.
February volumes of Tata Motors increased to 36,400 units while in earlier months clocked volumes of around 33,000 or less. Wagh indicated that demand tailwinds are easing off some of the headwinds leading to a pick-up in demand.
“The tailwinds seem to improve with demand coming back in tipper and haulage in medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment. However increasing costs are putting pressure on the transporters margins”, Wagh added.
