Tata Motors unveils electric Nexon SUV, launch in Jan 2020

The bookings for Nexon EV, which targets the personal segment, will open from December 20 and the commercial launch is scheduled for January 2020, the company said today.

The Nexon EV is the first car from the stable of Tata Motors that is powered by its in-house developed modular electric powertrain platform called Ziptron. The said powertrain that includes lithium ion battery and electric motor, is said to deliver more than 300 kms of running range in a single charge, thus addressing the customers’ range anxiety of driving electric vehicles (EVs).

Although the retail price will be announced next month, the company has given an indicative range of ₹15 – 17 lakh for the electric car, making it to be the most affordable long-range passenger car available in the market today. Other recently introduced long-range EVs include MG Motor’s ZS (340 km on single charge) and Hyundai Motor India’s Kona Electric, which claims a range of 452 km on a single charge. While MG’s electric SUV is expected to be priced in excess of ₹20 lakh, the Hyundai Kona comes with a price tag of over ₹23 lakh.

Once launched next month, the Tata Nexon EV will be available in three variants and will also offer a warranty of 8 years or 160,000 km (whichever is earlier) on battery and electric motor. Notably, even Hyundai offers a similar warranty on its Kona Electric SUV.

“We are not going pan-India with the retails of Nexon EV. We have identified 22 micro markets and cities with 48 outlets supporting it. These markets will be our focus to begin with," Shailesh Chandra, president – electric mobility and corporate strategy, Tata Motors Ltd told Mint underlining that the chosen dealerships will have a store-in-store concept to promote EVs for personal segment.

The company will also be experimenting with some new retail formats with its Nexon EV such as its consumer electronics store Croma, where it plans to install 6 X 8 digital showroom for the electric car.

“All the technology geeks visiting consumer electronics stores such as Croma and others are also natural buyers of electric vehicles. So we have selected about 2-3 Croma stores in the initial phase in select cities so that we implement this idea and later expand it," said Chandra.

Tata Motors is also open to coming up with new standalone outlets for EVs in the future once it has a broad portfolio of electric cars for personal segment and as the demand picks up.