Indica electric vehicle to be launched in Europe this year

Tata Motors today disclosed that the vehicle will be Europe's first four-seater electric car with a range of up to 200km.

It research centre in the UK, Tata Motors European Technical Centre plc  has received a £10-million loan from the UK government, under its Automotive Assistance Programme, to develop and manufacture the Tata Indica Vista electric vehicle in the UK with an investment of £25 million.

TMETC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors in the UK, engaged in design engineering and development of automobiles, working synergistically with Tata Motors. 

In addition to developing the electric version of the Indica, Tata Motors, which also has a technology licensing deal with MDI of France to develop a car engine that runs on compressed air (See: And now, a car that runs on air from the Tata stable), has indicated that its low-cost Nano would be available in an electric version.

In March this year, around the time the UK government was dithering on its decision to provide a guaranttes for an approved £340-million from the European Investment Bank loan, it had indicated that Jaguar would receive a £27-million loan to  build a all new mini-4x4 'green' car, based on the Land Rover's LRX Concept (See: Land Rover gets £27-million grant to develop green vehicles)