PRATAP BOSE

HEAD OF DESIGN, TATA MOTORS

Design is a philosophy, it is a language. The language can change a little, but the philosophy does not change. The philosophy is still to make striking, sexy, phenomenal and attractive cars and with this we have just reinforced that. The difference is of course that with the two new global architectures, we got a chance to redefine where everything goes.

All the elements of Impact 2.0 are on this car (the 45X compact car). There are some things that we pushed a little further. For concept cars we make it little lower, little wider but every design element you see here will make it to the production car. There is almost nothing in this car that you won't be able to put into production. We are not too far from bringing this into reality and putting into production. The H5X SUV will arrive first though.

We have a lot of freedom when it comes to styling. The design is recognised as a very important function in the company today and the design team has a significant say in what goes in and what comes out of the car. No company in the world can afford to ignore everything else, we have market realities, we have a price position and everything else which we work with and that's what makes the project interesting.

In terms of design language everything is little sharper. Both the cars are sharper, stronger but not aggressive. It's very easy to get into an area where you start going into aggression and I think that place is taken by others in India and rest of the world. I don't want to do that ever. Strength is what we focus on, this architecture has given us that and it's just a great place to be as a designer.

The architecture is four-wheel drive ready. It has got a transverse engine placement.