Tata Pixel is Tata’s entry at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. Based on the platform that already sits beneath the Nano, the rear-engined Pixel is just over three metres long but is capable, Tata says, of accommodating four adults. The design – the work of Tata’s own studios in India – incorporates scissor doors and a large glass area, including a panoramic roof.
The looks more modern than the Nano’s, although the emphasis is still on interior space rather than luxury. The centrepiece is ‘My Tata Connect’, an infotainment system that integrates the user’s smartphone or iPad into the car controls.
The Pixel has a 1.2-litre, three-cylinder turbodiesel engine, plus low-resistance tyres, stop-start technology and what Tata calls “intelligent battery charging”. The firm claims the car can return combined fuel economy of 83mpg and CO2 emissions of 89g/km.
The car’s neatest engineering trick is a system which helps the outer rear wheel forwards and the inner rear wheel backwards when turning at acute angles. The set-up gives the Pixel a turning radius of just 2.6 metres, so there could be applications in India’s burgeoning taxi market. The Tata Pixel isn’t heading to India any time too soon and if it ever does manage to arrive in Gandhiland, it won’t be until 2015.
More pictures of Tata Pixel Concept –