Efforts to reduce costs at Tata means the Indian automaker will no longer proceed with plans for the Tamo sub-brand and Racemo sports car.
The information comes from Autocar India which also reports that Tata will skip the Geneva auto show next year for the first time in two decades, and also cancel its T1 Prima India-based truck racing series.
Tamo was launched in March at the 2017 Geneva auto show as a new aspirational brand aimed at improving Tata’s image on the world stage. It was also to serve as an incubator for new businesses and technologies.
Tamo’s lineup was to consist of low-volume halo products, the first of which was to be the Racemo, also unveiled at the 2017 Geneva auto show. The car is a small sports car powered by a 1.2-liter turbocharged inline-3 with 187 horsepower on tap. Approximately 250 were to be built.
Why the cost cutting? Autocar India reports that Tata is experiencing a slump in its core commercial vehicles unit. The company’s standalone vehicle business, excluding income from Jaguar Land Rover, lost $39 million in the first quarter of 2017, up from a $9.7 million loss for the same period a year ago.
Tata in February said it planned to streamline its operations in an effort to return to profitability by 2019. A major step will be reducing the number of platforms Tata uses from six to two to improve efficiencies and reduce costs.
