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Back in 2010-11, the seasoned lot of design engineers at Tata Motors were given a complex mandate: 'Design a Tata car which is unlike a Tata car'. As a result, the Mumbai-based company's upcoming launches, the Zest and the Bolt, will kick-start a new design language, integral to its future product plans.
The cars from its stable will carry a modern, sporty look, synced with the taste of the consumer today, but at the same time, hold the Tata Motors' promise of reliability and ruggedness. The late Karl Slym, who had joined the company as its MD in 2012 had actively commandeered a gang of 170 engineers from nine countries across three centres, to bring together the most ambitious project after the mini car Nano.
Pratap Bose, head of design, Tata Motors says, "We have a 15-year history of car-making. The Bolt and Zest are the first new-generation cars from us. We want to maintain a certain feeling that these are Tata products but, at the same time, bring freshness to how someone sees them. So, the styling would appeal to someone who is not familiar with Tata cars."
Across the world, car manufacturers follow a design theme for a brand, and often extend it to almost all the products under that brand. For instance, Hyundai extended its 'fluidic' theme to all its cars. First seen in India in 2011 in the Verna, the Elantra, Grand i10, Xcent, Sonata, Eon and Santa Fe also started sporting the same language. Distinct design themes are more pronounced in luxury marquees like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover. "Staying true to the brand's fundamental design is essential for the product's success because only then can it belong to a particular family," says a prominent car designer. Manufacturing passenger vehicles for the past 15 years, Tata Motors is among the youngest brands in the world, but has drawn flak for its designing.
The company launched the Indica in 1998, then the Indigo, Indigo Marina, Indigo CS and several derivatives of the Indica. Dated styling and intense competition took a toll on these models.
In 2008, Tata Motors produced the Indica Vista on a new platform. The designs for the Vista and the Indigo Manza, were inspired by the Indica, but they wore a more aggressive look. Priced at a premium to the regular Indica, the Vista did not bring in volumes. The sedan, Manza, met with muted demand as well.
With the Zest and the Bolt, Tata Motors does not want to repeat history. While these may be two more additions to the populous sedan and hatchback segments, Tata Motors is keen to shrug off the earlier theme of styling and overhaul its design architecture with these.
"The first glimpse of the car usually comes from a blog, without the consumer going to the showroom, which was not so earlier. Decisions are made based on pictures one sees on a 5-inch screen. So, you have to engage the buyer in the first 20 seconds. If that does not click, then the rest of the story does not matter," says Bose.
To avoid taking a design risk, Tata Motors reversed the engineering process. The company first worked on the sedan (Zest) before working on the hatchback (Bolt). Companies usuallygraduate from a hatchback to developing a sedan. "The integration of the boot with the rest of the car is very important in a sedan so that it does not look 'stuck on'. In terms of design, one should get an attractive and natural product. Once we got that right, we designed the Bolt. We flipped the whole thing around. No other manufacturer has done it this way", says Bose.
Tata Motors cars are known to be spacious and perceived to have higher ceilings. The designers, this time, wanted to make the cars look wider and planted to the ground (to exude a more premium feel). They moved the tail lamp to a lower position, so that when viewed from the rear, the car looks wider and planted. A floating rear roof and wider front grills are other additions that would be firsts for Tata cars.
Before his present seven-year stint at Tata Motors, Bose had worked for three years with Mercedes-Benz (Daimler Chrysler), Japan, and three years with Italy's two-wheeler giant Piaggio, the makers of the stylish scooter, Vespa. Bose works out of the technical centre in Coventry, United Kingdom, but has had to coordinate with teams in Turin in Italy and Pune for the Zest and the Bolt.
It took 12-18 months for the designers to go from sketch and clay model to the final model. The initiative had 200-300 sketches pouring from Italy, England and India. After several rounds of filtering, the count was narrowed down to 20. Tata Motors' management was shown eight concepts, which were then reduced to three, and finally one. As a result, it took 36-40 months to develop the cars.
The company showcased a concept car, Nexon, based on the new design philosophy, at the last India Auto Expo. Bose says that future cars of Tata Motors will trace its design roots to the Nexon, whereas the Zest and the Bolt will form the first commercial base.
