Tata Motors has made some serious efforts as it re-entered the CNG segment and the Tiago and Tigor CNG variants hardly feel like a compromise. This should ensure that the competition sits up and takes notice as private customers look at both options for ease of running costs. And it now seems Tata is planning to entice customers further with automatic versions of the Tiago and Tigor iCNG. Much like their petrol-powered counterparts, the automatic CNG variants will get the AMT unit bringing convenience to the customer.
The company though will first study the response for its new CNG range before the automatic variants arrive. The Tata Tiago and Tigor CNG are offered with all bells and whistles and come with four trims. This is unlike the Maruti Suzuki Celerio CNG and the Hyundai Santro CNG that are offered in the base and mid-trims. This alone brings a distinct advantage to the Tata offerings. It will also help customers overcome the mental barrier wherein buying a CNG version of a vehicle felt like a compromise. Moreover, with more variants on offer, the company can easily cater to private and fleet buyers. An automatic CNG offering will be a segment-first in the hatchback and subcompact sedan segment.
At present, the Tata Tiago iCNG and Tigor iCNG use the 1.2-litre Revotron petrol engine that’s be de-tuned to produce 73PS and 95Nm of peak torque. It’s paired with the 5-speed manual gearbox. The suspension on both cars has been retuned to handle the 100 extra kilos of the CNG kit. Tata claims a mileage of 26.49km/kg of gas on the Tiago and the number should be identical on the AMT-CNG variant as well. The company aims for its CNG models to contribute about 35 per cent to the total passenger vehicle sales, and the automatic variants could help achieve this faster. The Tata Tiago iCNG range starts from Rs. 6.10 lakh, while the Tigor iCNG line-up starts from Rs. 7.70 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
