Tata Motors phases out Manza, Vista

With the phase out of the two models Tata Motors has now completely exited its aging car portfolio under the personal vehicle category

Tata Motors, India's fifth largest maker of passenger vehicles, has stopped producing the Manza sedan and the Vista hatchback.

With this, Tata Motors has exited its ageing portfolio of cars. The Indica and Indigo eCS models are available for commercial use only. The company phased out the older generation Nano late last year.

Girish Wagh, senior vice-president of programme planning and management for passenger cars at Tata Motors, said the Manza, Vista and Indigo (older version) had been discontinued.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers reported zero sales of the Manza and the Indigo since July.

Launched in 2009 as the Indigo Manza, the car was built on a Rs 2,000-crore platform that also served the Vista hatchback.  Tata Motors dropped the Indigo name two years later after providing the sedan a face-lift.
 

The Manza was positioned above the Indigo and Indigo XL sedans, with petrol and diesel engines produced by a Tata-Fiat joint venture. In 2012, the Manza was rebranded as Club Class Manza to take on rivals Honda City, Hyundai Verna and Maruti Suzuki SX4.

Sales of the Vista, too, were slow against competition from Maruti Swift, Hyundai i10 among others.

The Indica and Indigo eCS have been pushed to the commercial segment. The two cars, popular as taxis, have steady demand. Tata Motors has no plans to phase out these models.

“The Indica and Indigo are still going strong in the commercial segment and are a more compelling proposition compared to the Vista and Manza,” Wagh added.

Tata Motors has decided against selling its new generation cars to commercial buyers. “We have a clear focus on the commercial user and we will continue to have specific products for him developed with different attributes in mind,” Wagh said.

Tata Motors now sells only the Indica’s diesel and CNG variants, fuels used in commercial car fleets.

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OLD IS NO LONGER GOLD

• With the phasing out of the two models, Tata Motors has now completely exited its ageing car portfolio under the personal vehicle category
   
• According to data available with the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, Manza and Indigo's domestic sales since July this year have been naught
  

 

Launched in 2009 as Indigo Manza, the car was built on an entirely new Rs 2,000 crore platform that also served the Vista hatchback
 

Manza was positioned as a more expensive elder sibling of the Indigo and Indigo XL sedans, having petrol and diesel engines procured from the Tata-Fiat manufacturing joint venture