Tata Motors Yodha gets BS6 makeover : All you need to know

One of the key products in Tata Motors SCV portfolio, the Yodha pickup now gets BS6 treatment keeping focus on the last-mile transportation needs. Along with higher power engine, performance, safety and convenience, this pickup promises quite a lot. Can it take on the market leader? We try to find out.

Trucks makers are in the process of rearranging their portfolio as part of the BS6 transition. Several OEMs have already introduced their BS6 trucks, and some of them are doing it in phases. 

Market leader Tata Motors is working gradually towards moving its extensive truck range to BS6 emission. The firm has launched some of the key products and working to shift its complete portfolio to BS6 in the next couple of weeks. The BS6 roll-out was had to happen on 1st of April, however, the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown derailed the whole process for the industry.  

In yet another important segment Tata Motors has launched the Yodha pickup in its BS6 avatar. The Small Commercial Vehicle (SCV) segment comprising the mini-trucks and pickups is a crucial growing segment in the overall industry volumes. Pickups are primarily deployed in the last-mile delivery to serve the end consumer in a variety of cargo applications both in urban and rural India. 

This segment has been clocking considerable year on year sales growth and emerged as the single largest truck category in terms of volumes in the total truck sales. Therefore, OEMs are looking at aggressively expanding their offering in this segment to get the larger pie of this growing market. 

Tata Motors caters to the SCV segment with multiple products such as 207, Super Ace, Xenon pickup, etc. The Yodha is the latest product joined in this category with its premium appeal. The firm is working extremely hard to get a strong foothold in this important cargo segment, and also become a challenger to the market leader Mahindra Bolero Pik-up range. 

The Yodha BS6 range like its BS4 predecessor promises to offer all that matters the most to the last-mile delivery customers. The key ingredients the customer want is lower maintenance costs, higher performance, bigger cargo load body.

The Yodha comes with the best power to weight ratio, a fuel-efficient engine, offering higher cargo space to carry more goods for the owner, thus enabling the customer to make more money every single trip. What sets Yodha apart from the rest of the pack is its tough stance, robust aggregates, and the contemporary design elements, thus blending the performance, profit, and looks. Let’s look at what is on offer. 

Multiple Variant

The Yodha in its BS6 avatar is made available in both, single cab and crew cabin variants with 4x2 and 4x4 drive options, and with payload options of 1200 kg, 1500 kg, and 1700 kg. Tata Motors says Yodha is suitable for all kinds of applications as this pickup is a combination of versatile performance and flexibility. Moreover, Tata Motors also offers the Yodha in cabin and chassis variant for those customers looking to customized the body as per the cargo application needs.

Promise power and performance

The new BS6 Yodha gets the reliable and proven Tata Motors 2.2 L DI engine that offers the combination of a higher power at any given terrain and a full load of cargo without compromising on fuel efficiency. Considering the tough and higher cargo needs of customer Yodha now comes with 100 HP of power and 250 Nm of torque much higher than the BS4 version. The engine offers a flat curve torque with a wider band from 1000 - 2500 rpm, this helps in fewer gear changes and superior pickup even in full-loaded cargo. 

Tata Motors engineers have also been able to achieve lower noise, vibration and harshness making the vehicle quite smooth and at the same time comfortable to drive. To deliver on the promise of performance, the Yodha is fitted with high quality and reliable aggregates including stronger suspension, wide rear axle, disc brakes in front and a 4 mm thick-rolled chassis frame, sturdy enough to face every load on the difficult terrains.  The gradeability of 40% and 210 mm of ground clearance allows carrying any kind of load no matter what is the condition of the roads.

Safety Focus

The pickup segment is dominated by entrepreneurs, driver-cum owners, and these customers do not only want a vehicle that performs better, but they are equally concerned about safety. The awareness of safety has increased many folds over the years, as the customers are well-informed on safety, and they are willing to pay more to get a safety feature in the vehicle. 

The Yodha Pickup range is built to deliver superior safety for the driver and also the expensive goods that it carries. Like its earlier version, it gets a large bonnet with a crumple zone and a collapsible steering wheel that ensures maximum safety in case of a frontal collision. Also, anti-roll bars are fitted in the front and a wider rear axle track adds to the stability on-road and off-road conditions. And its twin-pot disc brakes in the front ensure better braking with any load, on any road condition.

To complement the safety with convenience for fatigue-free driving, Yodha is equipped with impressive features like a tiltable & collapsible power steering, comfortable bucket seats with headrests, rear sliding windows ensuring cabin ventilation, a modern dashboard with convenient useful spaces, inbuilt fast mobile charger, bottle holder, newspaper pocket, a lockable glovebox, wide ORVM for enhanced visibility, and a reverse parking assistance system (RSPS) to assist customer, etc.

Lower TCO

Apart from the overall vehicle performance and features, what matters the customers the most is the total-cost-of-ownership (TCO). A truck has always used in the transport business and an earning source for the owner-driver, and thus, it makes a difference when the total cost of vehicles is lower, this directly helps him earn more from the vehicle. Thus, Tata Motors having understood its customer, well, promises lower TCO with the Yodha BS6.

Clearly, Tata Motors has repackaged the promising Yodha pickup with a whole lot on offer in its BS6 version. The Yodha tick all the right boxes, blending the performance and reliability. Understandably so, the company is confident that Yodha BS6 will create excitement and buzz in the segment which will attract not only the customer attention but also help it grow its volumes in this critical segment. As the retail sales likely to kick-start post lockdown in the next few days, customers can take look at this truck. Keep watching this space for further updates on this product and segment. 

Also Read: Tata Motors launches the Ace Gold BS6