PUNE : Ahead of its ambitious small-car launch next year, Tata Motors on Monday launched a mass transport passenger vehicle - Magic, developed on the platform of its popular mini truck Ace while also unveiling a higher capacity van - Winger. Magic, with a sitting capacity of 5-8 people, has been priced at Rs 2.6 lakh (ex-showroom Pune) while Winger, which has three variants and eleven different sitting arrangements, is competitively pegged at a starting price of Rs 4.7 lakh. Both the vehicles are initially of diesel versions and the company plans to roll-out CNG versions of Magic and both CNG and petrol variants of Winger later. "Magic is Tata Motors initiative to change the way people travel in India. It brings with itself safe, comfortable and four-wheeler public transport.
This is an aam junta (common man) car," company's Vice-President (sales and marketing of commercial vehicles) Shyam Mani told reporters here. The company, he said, would market the two products both in urban and rural areas. However, Tata Motors officials were reluctant to disclose the number of units the company aimed to sell in the current year. "The market is huge and we want to be a dominant player in the field," Mani said. He added that the home-grown auto major would initially manufacture the vehicle in its Pune plant. "If the need arises, we may also manufacture it from our Uttarakhand plant".