Tata Motors – the country’s third best-selling carmaker displayed an array of interesting new products & concepts at this year’s AutoExpo. Among its other offerings, Tata showcased the Altroz premium hatchback & Punch micro-SUV in its iCNG guise.
Although this time, Tata has been innovative and has done some smart packaging of the CNG kits with efficient space-management. Let’s have a closer look at the third and fourth products from Tata’s stable to get a factory-fitted CNG kit.
Altroz & Punch iCNG
Except for the iCNG badging on the boot-lid, the Altroz and Punch CNG do not get any exterior or interior changes.
Talking about the powertrain, the cars come with the 1.2-L 3-cylinder engine which currently powers the Tiago & Tigor iCNG. This engine produces 86hp and 113Nm of torque in petrol mode and 77hp and 95Nm of torque in CNG mode. The Revotron engine with the CNG-kit will come mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox as seen in the Tiago/Tigor iCNG.
Tata is yet to confirm the launch details but we expect the cars to get launched in the coming months. The Altroz and Punch iCNG will be offered in multiple variants as well.
Tata’s Twin-Cylinder iCNG Technology
Tata has optimized the boot space in both cars by splitting the usual 60-liter CNG-tank into 2 tanks of 30-liter. This has created a decent amount of usable boot space for buyers which will greatly increase the CNG variant’s appeal.
Tata has removed the spare wheel and reworked the boot floor to accommodate the smaller tanks alongwith their refilling mechanism. There’s also a lightweight lid to cover the tanks which creates a flat surface enabling users to store luggage.
In terms of safety, the Altroz & Punch iCNG comes with a microswitch that keeps the car off while refuelling. Other safety features like thermal incident protection, a fire protection device and a leak detection feature are also on offer. Tata is also making use of advanced materials in the iCNG kit in order to prevent leakage.