Tata Motors has launched a new upgraded range of its entry-level utility vehicle offering, the Tata Spacio. Named the Spacio Gold Plus, the new range seeks to enhance customer experience in the areas of performance, fuel economy, comfort and convenience. With the new offering, Tata Motors is aiming to increase its penetration in the rapidly growing personal / family vehicle segment in the semi-urban market. Spacio Gold Plus gets a new heart in the form of the 3-litre, DI engine which now gets turbo charged to substantially raise the maximum power and torque ratings to 70 PS (at 3000 rpm) and 223 Nm (at 2200 rpm) respectively. This has led to a considerable improvement in the overall performance and driveability of the vehicle.

The enhancement in power has been accompanied by a significant raising of the fuel efficiency of the vehicle by over 15 per cent. The Spacio Gold Plus delivers a best-in-class 15 kmpl (under test conditions) thus enhancing upon a key market requirement. The vehicle is also characterised by a much lower NVH (noise vibration and harshness). The entire Spacio range now comes with a turning circle radius of 4.9 metres.

Spacio Gold Plus has been launched in two trim levels, both sporting power steering with a soft touch steering wheel, front bucket seats, new decals and refined interiors. The spare wheel has been relocated under the body to provide a clean uncluttered rear look. Both the variants come in two seating configurations: 6+ driver and 8+ driver. The upper variant has several comfort features, like air conditioning, central locking with key-less entry and immobiliser, and CD / mp3 music system.

The Spacio range is the entry-level variant of the widely popular Tata Sumo. Tata Motors sold a total of 47,893 utility vehicles, including 32,007 of the Sumo family, during 2006-07. This represented a growth of 26.4 per cent over the previous year compared to the segment growth of 13.4 per cent. Cumulative sales of passenger vehicles in the domestic market for the fiscal were 226,893 in number, the highest ever in any year and a growth of 20 per cent over the previous year. The cumulative sales of Indica were 144,690 in number, an increase of 30 per cent and the highest in any fiscal. The Indigo range posted sales of 34,310 in number, a decline of 13 per cent, but lesser than the decline of the entry mid-size segment.