Tata Motors has launched an updated version of the Manza Sedan for the festive season. The car gets a host of exciting new features and has been christened as “the Club Class.” The Manza was suffering with poor sales figures in the recent months. August 2012 saw sales decline by over 46% compared to the same period last year. Tata Motors is now banking upon the Diwali season to boost the sales figures of the sedan. The updated Manza is priced at Rs 5.7 lakh for the base petrol and Rs 6.49 lakh for base diesel. The top-end diesel variant is priced at Rs 8.8 lakh. All prices are ex-showroom New Delhi.
– What’s new
- In-Dash touch-screen navigation with GPS, USB, AUX and Bluetooth support
- Auto Climate AC with Econ mode for better fuel efficiency
- Italian Leather Upholstery
- Leather wrapped gear-knob
- Black and Plum interior
- New Design 8 Spoke Alloy Wheels
- Better Quality Seat Fabric
- More Chrome
- Infinity Contrast Roof
- New Infinity Black shade
Following are the new variants that have been introduced with the refresh along with their features:
LS :
- 1.3L 90 PS Quadrajet Engine
- Additional Chrome
- New Seat Fabric
LX :
- Additional Chrome
- New Seat Fabric
- Electric HVAC
VX :
- Additional Chrome
- New Seat Fabric
- ABS & Airbags
- Touchscreen Navigation
EX:
- Additional Chrome
- New Seat Fabric
- ABS & Airbags
- Touchscreen Navigation
- Automatic Climate Control
- Contrast Sunroof
EXL:
- Additional Chrome
- New Seat Fabric
- ABS & Airbags
- Touchscreen Navigation
- Automatic Climate Control
- Contrast Sunroof
- Leather Upholstery
Pointers from the press-conference held in Mumbai:
- The Manza Club Class is available in six colors – Tyrian White, Laser Red, Castle Grey, Infinity Black, Dew White and Jet Silver. The Infinity Black Manza comes with a silver roof whereas the other shades get a black roof.
- The power-windows on the top-end variants now get a delay feature. The windows will function even after 30 seconds of turning off the ignition.
- No 75 PS Quadrajet variants as of yet. Tata perhaps is saving them up for the Manza CS.
- Tata has launched a new “Connoisseur Service” that promises better quality service response to Manza customers. The service is included in the ex-showroom price of the Club-Class and will be available to buyers of all variants.
- The company plans to open 200 more service and sales outlets taking the total number to 1200 locations across India. Clearly the car-maker is working on improving its after-sales service. A lesson well learnt from its partnership with Fiat, we say.
- The Quadrajet and Saffire range of engines have been renamed to Q-Jet and S-Jet respectively.
- Manza Automatic, something to look out for – “We think there is a healthy customer-base for automatic diesel sedans in the market and a Manza Diesel with an automatic transmission would make a great start in the segment. However, at the moment we don’t have any automatic units with us that are compatible with the Manza. I am not going to promise anything here, but this is something we are strongly looking at, especially for the international markets,” said Mr. Karl Slym, Managing Director, Tata Motors Limited.
- Quanto rival on the cards – “You have made a strong point here and I completely agree with you about the growth in the softer-end of the SUV segment. It necessarily may not be based on the Manza or the Vista, (hinting, that there is already something in the works) but we would love to have a share in this segment,” said Karl, when asked about a rival to the Mahindra Quanto.
Our interaction with Mr. Karl Slym was fairly short this time. However our Editor-in-chief, Gautam will be seeing him at the launch of the Storme today. If you have any feedback or questions that you would like to ask Karl, please leave them in the comments section. We will get back to you with answers from the presser in the evening.
