It was in March this year, during the Geneva International Motor Show when Tata Motors unveiled the production version of the Altroz. Its concept form was codenamed as 45X and showcased to the public at last year’s Auto Expo. The hatchback, which is underpinned by the ALFA-arc (Agile Light Flexible Advanced-Architecture) and flaunts Tata Motors’ Impact 2.0 design language, will launch in India in a couple of months.

About the website, it doesn’t really showcase any factual data but it did help Tata Motors gauge the anticipation amongst potential buyers. The homegrown automaker claims that the website attracted over 1 lakh visitors in less than 24 hours. That isn’t surprising as the Altroz is quite a looker. We believe that apart from making a statement in the premium hatchback segment, the upcoming car will also become the first BSVI-compliant (Bharat Stage VI) model in the company’s portfolio.

Why do we believe the latter point? It’s based on a simple fact that when the Altroz broke cover, Tata Motors listed just one powertrain for it. The hatchback will be propelled by the combination of a 1.2-litre petrol engine, which produces 102PS/140Nm, and a 5-speed manual transmission. For the record, those figures are in Baleno RS’ territory! Since there is no diesel listed and we know Tata Motors isn’t willing to upgrade smaller diesel engines to meet BSVI emission norms anyway, it only makes sense to introduce the Altroz in a form that doesn’t need changing again before March 31, 2020.

As far as the list of features goes, it will include a 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a multifunction steering wheel, engine start-stop button, a rear-view camera, automatic climate control, cruise control and an 8-speaker sound system. The standard kit will cover rear parking sensors, dual airbags, ABS with EBD, seatbelt reminder for front seats and a high-speed warning alert.

Being a Tata product, it will be priced extremely competitively. Once launched, it will lock horns with the likes of the Volkswagen Polo, Honda Jazz, Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Toyota Glanza and the Hyundai Elite i20. Tata Motors is also working on Altroz’ pure-electric derivative, which also debuted in March 2019.