Tata’s Next 4WD Model Likely To Be An EV: Shailesh Chandra

• Shailesh Chandra, MD, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, mentioned that it is easier to incorporate an AWD setup in EVs compared to ICEs.

• With the Gen 2 platform supporting multiple powertrain options, we could have AWD in EVs utilizing a different variation of this platform or different body styles.

• ICE-spec Tata Safari could also get it owing to market demand since its platform can incorporate a 4x4 setup.

When the new Tata Safari showed up in 2021, many were left disappointed as it came without an all-wheel drivetrain. Since then we’re still waiting for the day the AWD setup returns to a Tata model. Well, during the Curvv unveil, Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd., and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd., hinted that the carmaker’s next model to get an all-wheel drivetrain is likely to be an electric vehicle.

Speaking to Zigwheels, Chandra said, “ We would like to have an electrified all-wheel drive model. We are frankly not thinking about an ICE in a 4x4, but we are actively thinking about electric vehicles. In certain SUVs, we would think about some of the SUVs which are in the pipeline. We’ll keep it protected, be ready with the concept, and if a market survey shows that there will be a meaningful volume that we will be able to achieve, we will bring it. It is much easier now via the electric vehicle route.”   

So with ICE models essentially being ruled out to get an 4x4 drivetrain anytime soon, which electric model can we expect to get it? Well, the Curvv’s Generation 2 architecture supports multiple powertrains. So we could get the AWD setup on different body styles like a conventional SUV or even on EVs running on a different variation of this platform.  

Sure, Tata isn’t considering 4x4s on ICE models at the moment, but the carmaker did mention the Safari’s platform is capable of taking in an AWD system. But any hopes of that happening is all down to market demand.

That being said, we’ll probably have to wait a while longer for the AWD option to return to a Tata model. The carmaker is slated to launch the production-spec Curvv by 2024 as an electric model first before offering an ICE option. But before that, Tata will bring in two new EVs based on current ICE cars.