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The Tata Curvv is certainly a looker – with its raked back roofline, it is very confidently a coupe SUV and one that not many manufacturers have attempted in the segment that the Curvv sits in. Rivaling traditional SUVs like the Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Skoda Kushaq, VW Taigun and even the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, this SUV’s styling is its major differentiator. We spent some time at the design centre in the UK with the final production versions of the Tata Curvv – both the ICE and the EV variants and we learned a lot about these upcoming SUVs. At Tata Motors’ design studio in the UK, we also caught up with the man behind this styling – Martin Uhlarik, VP & Head of Global Design, Tata Motors to understand the thought process behind the styling a little better.
In this interview, Martin sheds light on why Tata Motors decided to go ahead with the SUV Coupe styling in a sea of traditional SUVs. He also sheds light on the positioning of the Curvv and why it doesn’t have a more traditional sibling. The differentiation between ICE and EV versions of the Curvv is critical and Martin shares his thoughts on that, while also giving us an insight on how challenges like creating adequate headroom were dealt with. Read on for the full interview!
“When we started to think about what is our next white space product, what is the next piece of the puzzle in our portfolio, we saw a big trend globally with SUV coupes. We saw that the market in India is actually maturing to the point where we think this fragmentation of SUVs – that it is no longer just a purely functional, off-road traditional, SUV – that there's an opportunity for this sort of class of vehicle. At the same time our portfolio covers pretty much every base, in terms of size and segment. We've got every size covered from an SUV point of view we saw there's actually a space, not only in our portfolio, but also in the market for this typology and it kind of reflects our DNA which is we're always challenging the status quo, we're creating segments, we're not following them and and also we show that there's a space for an emotional SUV in the in the market.”
“The Curvv is flanked below it by the Nexon and above it by the Harrier, and at 4.3m, it occupies a certain space. At the same time, we know that within a couple of months, or a better part of 12 months, we will also have a more traditional silhouetted SUV sitting alongside the Curvv. So we've got both sides of the argument covered.”
“We discussed what's the sweet spot, from an investment point of view. Ultimately, we decided that, focusing on the front end, where ultimately it's a reflection of the powertrain – more cooling, less cooling, ICE, EV – and at the same time, it's a more aerodynamic product. And then, of course, the wheels on the side. It was agreed with all the stakeholders that this was the right level of differentiation between the two.”
We also sat down with Vivek Srivatsa, Chief Commercial Officer, TPEM, to talk about the latest Tata Curvv. Read that conversation here.
“I'm always a big advocate from a proportional point of view that a larger set of wheels will always make the car look better. At the same time, we have pushed the envelope in terms of making the wheel as large as possible, but we have to also think about the usability of the customer's roads. This is not just for the A roads; this is also for the B and C roads in the market, and at the same time, we want to make sure that the customer isn't changing their tyre every time they take the car out, so it's the right balance. In the end, from a design point of view, of course, a bigger wheel will always look better.”
“We didn't compromise the headroom at all, so when we were designing it, it's easy to design the exterior and not think about the interior or don't even think about the second row, but we set the targets in terms of headroom ingress and egress to be as good as any SUV. So that was always a hard point that was non-negotiable, and then what we did was actually move the rear wheel during the development of the program. We moved the wheelbase, so we stretched it, and we moved the rear wheel backwards to allow for better ingress and egress, and then what it did was we actually extended the rear overhang a little bit to get that natural flow so it doesn't look like it's forced to go on the roof, cover the second row, and then make your way down to the rear. You don't want it to look like it's forced, and it has to look proportionally right. So from a practical point of view, we never compromise, but at the same time, we wouldn't compromise the look of it either. I think we've figured it out.”
“It's an open forum, so it's not necessary that the winning studio wins to do the current production. The programme is already allocated to a studio, but the winning designer gets to finish it. The exterior was actually developed by a designer in Italy, and the interior was by a designer in Pune. The car was developed at the initial stage and then it was handed over to the Pune studio to land the plane, so to speak.”
“Throughout the whole process, obviously when we're designing it, we have all the shareholders, all our colleagues for the design reviews and it's also immersing yourself in what this product is. It's not just picking a design. And I would think that during the development, as the programme snowballs and accelerates, everybody starts thinking sportiness. Everybody starts thinking SUV coupe. Everybody thinks premium. Everybody thinks sharp, progressive, modern, and high-tech. All those buzzwords are not just throwaway lines to describe a design, they have to be actually part of the DNA of the product, so let's see when we drive the car in a couple of days.”
