Tata unveils lifestyle pick-up van

Despite falling growth in the passenger vehicles market in the past few months, Tata Motors, India's third-largest car maker, launched the Xenon XT, a lifestyle pick-up vehicle on Wednesday.

The four-door, five-seater pick-up will be priced at Rs 7.62 lakh (Rs 762,000) for the 4X2 version and Rs 8.58 lakh (Rs 858,000) for the 4X4 version (ex-showroom Delhi).  

The car will be powered by the same engine which powers the group's sports utility vehicle Safari. It will have 2.2 VTT Dicor diesel engine, which belts out a power of 140 bhp.

The car does not have much competition in the lifestyle pick-up market with the only other vehicle in the space being Mahindra's Scorpio Getaway.

India has not been a traditional market for lifestyle pick-up vehicles as opposed to other encouraging markets like the US or Thailand.

Tata Motors therefore has restricted the production of Xenon XT at just 500 units a month initially.

Rajiv Dubey, president (passenger car division), Tata Motors, said, "The market has not recovered yet from the slowdown, yet we will go ahead with our planned launches which will include the launch of 11-12 products in 2009-10."

Photograph: Rajesh Karkera