What’s the buzz around the new Tata Tigor Buzz?

What exactly is the Tigor Buzz?

Tata Motors has launched the special anniversary edition of the Tigor christened TigorBuzz at Rs 5.68 lakh for the petrol variant and Rs 6.57 lakh for the diesel variant. All prices are ex-showroom, Delhi. Cosmetic changes on the Tigor Buzz include a blacked out roof, piano black side mirrors, red inserts on the grille, a streak of red on the wheel covers and a limited edition badge on the rear. On the inside, you get air vents with red rings around them and fabric seats.

The limited edition car is available only on the mid level XT trim. Apart from the minor cosmetic upgrades, the car remains mechanically unchanged. Powering the Tigor is the same 1.2-litre 3-cylinder Revotron petrol engine that puts out 83.8bhp and 114Nm. The Revotorq 1.05-litre 3-cylinder diesel engine makes 69 horses and 140Nm of peak twist. Both engines come mated to a 5-speed manual transmission.

Tata Motors top boss on the Tigor Buzz

On the launch of the Tata Tigor Buzz, S N Barman, the head of marketing, sales and customer care, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors said, “At Tata Motors we have always focused on catering to the evolving customer demands by introducing new products and variants at regular intervals. The Tigor buzz limited edition is a true reflection of our legacy of creating something unexpected and setting new trends. The Tigor comes with a youthful mixture of design, style and attitude. Marking a successful year today, with robust demand since its launch, it has helped us post a month on month growth. We look forward to the Tigor buzz to be a step ahead towards extending this growth and customer satisfaction.”

The Tigor Buzz isn’t the first of its kind

Limited edition runs of existing models aren’t a new phenomenon. Manufacturers, including Tata Motors, have used this strategy in the past to stoke fresh curiosity among consumers about existing products. It’s a tried and tested strategy that works on several levels. In the case of the manufacturer, it can refresh its model lineup with minor changes or additions that don’t require heavy duty investments, R&D or changes to the manufacturing process. For the dealers too this works, since these editions don’t require the dealer to stock up on new additional spares that will increase his cost burden.

From a consumer perspective, a limited edition vehicle offers the satisfaction of being different from the crowd. At the same time, because the vehicle is essentially an existing car, issues like servicing, sourcing spares and so on, are not a problem at all. Besides the incremental cost of getting a limited edition vehicle isn’t much. The only downside to this strategy is that some may not see a cosmetic job as a value upgrade. Nonetheless, the fact that the strategy works is evident from the number of car makers who have used it in recent times. Examples of special edition cars include Nissan Terrano Sport, Volkswagen Polo Pace and Vento Sport, Maruti Suzuki Celerio X and more.

Even luxury car makers follow this trend of introducing limited edition models of their cars to reinvigorate interest among the customers and also to stand apart from the crowd.