News & Top StoriesIn India, people who wanted lower operating costs for their cars have had the option of CNG technology available since the early 2000s, but it was only available as a retrofit. It was only made available as a factory-fitted option for a range of reasonably priced Maruti and Hyundai models in 2010. It wasn’t until February 2024 that any brand provided an option to pair an automatic transmission with a CNG powertrain.
Tata has been leading the CNG segment with its innovations, beginning with the dual-cylinder setup that permits a usable boot, despite the Indian automaker’s relative youth in the industry. By offering the option of an AMT with the Tiago CNG and Tigor CNG, they have once again advanced the game.
Issue Of Price Premium
Today’s CNG cars have advanced significantly from being primarily economical utilitarian vehicles to being equipped with some of the most important convenience and technology features. Fundamentally speaking, however, a buyer of a CNG vehicle is still anticipated to be more cost-conscious than the average car buyer, and the convenience of an automatic transmission—even an AMT—comes at a reasonable premium.
The Tiago CNG AMT is one example of this, where the CNG kit alone is worth Rs 95,000 more than the base petrol model. When the AMT gearbox is added, the price increase of about Rs 50,000 brings the total cost up to almost Rs 1.5 lakh more than the standard petrol version.
CNG and AMT: An Intricate Combination
The difficulty of establishing a trustworthy and harmonious relationship between an automatic transmission and a CNG powertrain is another reason contributing to the delay in the release of a CNG-automatic option. Adding a CNG powertrain to the mix only complicates matters, as the latter requires multiple sensors to shift gears based on data such as engine load and RPMs. An existing CNG model has two different fuel-dependent states of tune: one for gasoline-powered operation and another for CNG-powered operation, which results in reduced power and torque. The data from each of these sensors will need to be returned so that it is compatible with both CNG and gasoline tunes to achieve the CNG-automatic configuration.
Variants and Specifications of Tiago CNG AMT
XTA and XZA+ are the two versions that are offered. It has the same 1.2-liter gasoline engine as the hatchback but with a reduced power output (73.5 PS/95 Nm). Options include 5-speed MT and AMT for the Tiago CNG.
Prices And Competitors
From Rs 7.90 lakh to Rs 8.80 lakh (ex-showroom, nationwide), the Tata Tiago CNG AMT is priced. Although they are limited to manual transmissions, Maruti Wagon R and Maruti Celerio are their rivals.