2013 Tata Tuff Truck Concept

Fusion Automotive the Australian distributor of Tata Motors has developed a unique and exclusively designed concept vehicle for the launch of the Tata Motors brand in Australia.

The uniquely designed concept vehicle, will be premiered at the National 4×4 & Outdoors Show and Fishing & Boating Expo, August 23-25 at the Melbourne Showgrounds, was designed and built in a joint venture between Fusion Automotive and Tata Motors, with the design team headed up by Walkinshaw Automotive Chief Designer Julian Quincey.

Based on the Tata Xenon, the concept vehicle is built to make a bold statement about the Fusion Automotive and Tata Motors partnership in the Australian market, the vehicle represents Tata’s unique brand position of value, strength and safety that will offer consumers unrivalled value in the light commercial segment and announce the arrival of the Tata Xenon to the Australian market. Tuff truck embraces every aspect of the original Xenon’s bold and muscular design and takes it to the next level with 4X4 flair.

"Tata Motors products are built to cater for some of the toughest and harshest conditions on earth and with the launch of the brand new and uniquely configured Tata Xenon, we wanted to create a concept car that reflected Australians love of the outdoors and the ruggedness of our landscape" says Darren Bowler, Managing Director Fusion Automotive.

The Tata Motors Xenon “Tuff Truck” has an exclusively designed body kit and accessories pack including the wheels, snorkel and sports bar with the roof, driving and spot lights proudly provided by Narva.

“By engaging Julian Quincey and the Walkinshaw Automotive engineering and design teams in the development of the concept vehicle we have been able to leverage over 25 years in vehicle design and styling to produce a concept vehicle that reflects the rough and readiness of the Australian 4x4 market whilst, embracing its Tata heritage.” said Mr Bowler.

“The Fusion & Tata teams gave us a brief to design a one-off lifestyle Xenon that would appeal to design-savvy Australian Crew cab buyers. I think that here the humble Crew Cab has already become an object of desire in its own right and we wanted to show how well the Xenon design works when carefully visually developed to suit the local market.” said Julian Quincey, Walkinshaw Automotive Chief Designer.

The design team highlighted the Xenon’s strong wheel arch design as a key feature, and focussed initially on increasing the wheel size and width to cater of larger off road tyres. The 20” wheels are uniquely designed and developed by the design team and machined from a solid billet of aluminium. They have a tough chiselled look purpose made for Xenon and give the vehicle such a strong stance.

“We gave the bumpers a more aggressive 4x4 look by keeping the generous ramp angles, but creating a frontal identity with a lower and wider central intake and an alloy skid plate that incorporates the winch and tow hooks. The custom designed snorkel also adds to the Xenon’s go-anywhere capability.” said Mr Quincey.

With lighting a major feature in the work and play qualities of a 4x4 vehicle, the team designed a state of the art roof light bar that integrates the unique roof rack with a custom Narva LED Xenon lighting rig, for everyday driving; driving lamps and DRL’s were incorporated to make sure the car is both seen and has superb forward visibility at night.

“To show off the body the Tuff Truck is finished in a satin Arden colour to highlight every contour. This contrasts with a dark hose-down lower element, which extends around the vehicle to visually slim down the overall height. The sports bar at the rear of the cab is designed to give the vehicle a cleaner sportier look by improving the silhouette.” Said Mr Quincey.

The vehicle is a testament to the engineering ability of the Walkinshaw Automotive team, most of the larger parts were modelled to size on full sized clay model Xenon, however the roof rack and snorkel were 3D printed, whilst other parts like the grilles were CNC milled out of ABS.

“The all new Tata Xenon will cement the Tata brand’s unique position of value, safety and strength in the Australian market with a vehicle model that will offer consumers unrivalled value in the 4x2 and 4x4 light commercial segments” says Mr Bowler.

The standard Tata Xenon which goes on sale in October 2013 will feature a Euro 5 emission compliant 2.2L turbo diesel engine, driver and front passenger airbags as well as in car features such as blue tooth and USB connectivity as standard.

Both the Tata Xenon “Tuff Truck” and the standard vehicle will be on display in the Automotive Pavilion at the National 4×4 & Outdoors Show and Fishing & Boating Expo and visitors to the Show will be able to experience the vehicle first hand with Test Rides available in the Action Arena.