Tata Xenon ute arrives

The Tata Xenon ute has been officially launched across Australia, priced from $22,990 drive-away for the 4x2 single-cab/chassis turbo-diesel variant and  packaged with a three-year 100,000km warranty and three years’ roadside assist.

Firing the first shot in a new model onslaught that will include all-new compact cars, sedans, and SUVs by 2016, Tata is offering a trio of body styles for the Xenon ute – cab/chassis, single-cab and dual-cab – topping out at $29,990 drive-away for the 4x4 dual-cab model.

Despite positioning the utes at the budget end of the spectrum, the head of Tata’s local importer, Fusion Automotive, bristled when it was suggested the Indian-built vehicles were cheap utes.

"The term 'cheap ute' I don't think fits this vehicle at all," said Darren Bowler, managing director of the newly formed Fusion Automotive, part of the Walkinshaw Group. "Our positioning aligns the vehicle in the segment we think where it rightly should be."

The Xenon ute is priced above the Chinese-made Great Wall models, but significantly below mainstream Japanese utes.

"This vision of a 'cheap ute' was created by another manufacturer and it's not what we're about," said Bowler, who revealed that we'll see more Tata commercial vehicles in Australia, including trucks and buses, before the first Tata passenger vehicles arrive in three years.

"For us it's about launching a brand, and launching a credible brand with feature content and safety," stated Bowler.

The Tata Xenon was primarily designed for the rigours of sub-standard Indian roads and is underpinned by simple but rugged suspension: a torsion beam front-end and leaf-sprung rear.

It has not been crash tested by European or Australian NCAP yet but will be in due course. Bowler confirmed that stability control and traction control wouldn't be available until January [2014] production.

All Australian-delivered Tata Xenon utes come as standard with a five-speed manual transmission mated to a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine that makes 110kW/320Nm -- enough to tow a 2500kg braked trailer (750kg unbraked).

Maximum payload in the cargo area is 1080kg for the single-cab and 880kg for the 4x4 dual-cab. The four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine meets Euro 5 emissions standards and average fuel economy is rated at 7.4L/100km, with CO2 emissions of 196g/km.

The Indian ute sits on a rugged ladder chassis and has a decent feature list, with Bluetooth, USB and iPod connectivity, a CD stereo, fold-out front seat armrests, a leather-covered steering wheel, electric windows and mirrors, remote keyless entry and an engine immobiliser system all fitted as standard.

Body-coloured front and rear bumpers and mirrors, a chrome grille, plus 16-inch alloy wheels with a 16-inch steel spare wheel are also standard on all models.

Optional extras include a seven-inch touch-screen sat-nav system with reversing camera ($2430), while the reversing camera with sensors ($999) or reversing camera ($745) can also be added separately.

But two important features are missing from the Tata Xenon ute -- cruise control and an automatic transmission. Cruise control is "in the works", says Tata, but an automatic transmission is not likely any time soon.

Tata's Head of International Business for commercial vehicles, RT Wasan, explained that demand for an automatic transmission is not strong enough to warrant development and that an auto was "more likely for the next-generation Xenon ute in four or five years’ time".

"It's possible we could put an auto gearbox in the current model, but not likely," said Wasan.

Tata and Fusion Automotive are predicting modest sales numbers for the Xenon ute for the rest of 2013. They expect just 425 sales nationally in what is the third-largest vehicle segment in Australia, light commercial vehicles.

Fusion Automotive forecasts it will sell 2800 units in 2014 and currently has 16 Tata dealers across Australia. Capped-price servicing for the Xenon ute is not yet available but Bowler indicated that it is likely to be offered in 2014.

Stay tuned for our first drive of the Tata Xenon ute on local roads.

Tata Xenon ute drive-away pricing:
4x2 single-cab/chassis -- $22,990
4x2 single-cab pick-up -- $24,990
4x2 dual-cab -- $26,990

4x4 single-cab/chassis -- $25,990
4x4 single-cab pick-up -- $27,990
4x4 dual-cab -- $29,990

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