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Tata Motors launches its first locally-made petrol engine

Tata Motors launches its first locally-made petrol engine

Tata Motors, which is primarily into the diesel segment, on Monday unveiled its first indigenously-developed petrol engine for passenger vehicles, which the company hoped will help in cornering a sizeable market share.

The engine, 'Revotron', marks a strategic shift by the home-grown auto major towards a more complete portfolio. The auto firm currently commands 9-10 per cent market share in the diesel engine space.

"With the launch of 1.2 litre four-cylinder Revotron engine with multi-point fuel injection technology, Tata Motors passenger vehicles business is making a strategic shift towards a more complete portfolio. Also, we are enhancing our portfolio with the Revotron engine series," Tata Motors president (passenger vehicle business) Ranjit Yadav said.

He said the new engine will be used in the compact models like Indica and Indica Vista. The first model with Revotron will be launched this year, Mr Yadav said but declined to offer a timeline or the model where it will be used.

As the company has the capability (to produce both petrol and diesel engines), it does not want to bet on one segment alone, Mr Yadav said. "We want equal representation in both petrol and diesel markets."

Tata Motors has launched the engine at time when the gap between the petrol and diesel vehicles is narrowing, owing to partial deregulation of diesel prices. The government has also indicated it intends to give complete autonomy to oil marketing companies to determine diesel prices.

Mr Yadav, however, did not share other details like production capacity or facility from which the new engine will be rolled out.

"We have a number of facilities from where the engine can be churned out. So, capacity is not an issue."

The Revotron series has been developed with inputs from renowned global players in the area of combustion, boosting, friction and calibration to deliver class leading performance.

The engine has been engineered to deliver optimum balance of power, performance and fuel economy and is a truly global product, Mr Yadav said.

The company worked closely with global engine consultant AVL of Austria and key technology partners like Bosch, Honeywell, Mahle and INA to bring in the latest technology for the new series, he added.