GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Tata Hexa SUV

Not content with unveiling its new compact Bolt hatch at last week's Geneva motor show, Tata Motors also lifted the lid on a full-size six-seat SUV that could eventually be sold in Australia too.

The Indian automotive giant and parent company of Jaguar Land Rover currently only sells the Xenon utility in Australia under the Tata brand, but its local distributor has previously said it has plans for passenger cars in the medium term – perhaps beyond 2018.

Although it received barely any attention at Switzerland's huge annual motor show this year, a production version of the Hexa concept could prove popular if it reaches SUV-mad Australia, where Great Wall's cut-price X200/240 mid-size SUV remains the country's most popular Chinese-built non-commercial vehicle.

The Hexa – so-called because it has six seats – isn't exactly all-new, however. It's based on the Aria crossover, which went on sale in India in 2010 and was first previewed as the Xover concept at the 2006 Geneva show.

Looking more like a people-mover than an SUV, the Aria was co-developed with JLR to meet European standards for sale in international markets, and comes with India-first features like xenon headlights, touch-screen infotainment with sat-nav, dual-zone automatic climate control, automatic headlights and wipers, reversing sensors, six-speaker sound and a multi-function steering wheel.

Measuring 4780mm long and weighing 1920kg, the Aria is available in India in seven- and eight-seat configurations and safety features extend to electronic stability control, six airbags, anti-lock brakes, electrical brake-force distribution and disc brakes all round.

The Hexa should come with all this and looks beefier outside and more modern inside, even if – like the X200 and the upcoming Ford Ranger-based Everest and Toyota HiLux-based Fortuner -- it's still based on a pick-up chassis and, like the Xenon, employs a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine.

In this case it’s a VARICOR diesel delivering 115kW of power at 4000rpm and a healthy 400Nm of torque between 1700 and 2700rpm, and it comes with a four-wheel-drive system.

Inside the Hexa's upmarket six-seat cabin there are twin middle-row captain's chairs, leather trim and 3D surround sound, while amping up proceedings on the outside are 19-inch alloy wheels, twin projector-beam headlights flanking Tata's signature honeycomb grille, chromed upper and lower grille inserts, roof-rails and a chunkier clamshell bonnet.