India's home-grown auto major Tata Motors on Tuesday unveiled its first sports car, RACEMO, at the international motor show here.
Besides the two-seater sports coupe, the first product under the company's new sub-brand TAMO, the company is showcasing the special editions of its next generation product line-up in the compact segment — sedan TIGOR and SUV NEXON.
"Symbolising the change that is taking place at Tata Motors, RACEMO is the proving ground of the TAMO family of vehicles and will drive the future of India's connected generation," Tata Motors CEO and MD Guenter Butschek told reporters here.
He said the new sports car is part of efforts to position the company as a youthful brand, keeping in mind the changing demographic profile of car consumers in India as well as the globe.
"From styling and design to driver experience and technology, RACEMO is an extension of customers' personality as part of their digital ecosystem and will break the ice with a radical new presence and pique the interest in the parent brand," Butschek added.
The sports car to be sold under TAMO badge is expected to hit the market in 2017-18. It is powered by a rear-mounted 1.2 litre petrol engine delivering 190 PS of power.
RACEMO is built on a Tata Motors' patented MOFlex Multi-Material Sandwich (MMS) structure - a structural technology, enabling greater freedom in surface design, efficient large-scale part integration leading to modularity and faster time to market.
The new sports car was unveiled in the presence of Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata and its new Chairman N Chandrasekaran.
Tata Motors is hoping that the structure will "help bring in Indian market a product with increased exclusivity" .
The RACEMO is also a connected car equipped with features such as advanced navigation, predictive maintenance, remote monitoring and over-the-air updates using Microsoft cloud-based technologies including advanced analytics, Internet of things (IoT) and machine learning powered by Microsoft Azure.
Moreover, the company's technology partner Microsoft will also offer a video game, RACEMO+, on its Forza Horizon 3 video available on Xbox One and Windows 10 featuring the RACEMO.
Reiterating the significance of the new product in the company's strategy further, Butschek said, "We launched our sub-brand TAMO as our answer to new technologies, business models and partnerships. RACEMO is the first innovation from TAMO, and our emotional, unexpected leap to future.
N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons and Guenter Butschek, CEO & MD, Tata Motors pose with TAMO Racemo, showcased at the 87th Geneva International Motor Show in Switzerland