Shyam Mani (left), vice-president of Tata Motors? commercial vehicles business unit, with P.M. Telang, president (light and small commercial vehicles), in Mumbai on Thursday. (Fotocorp)

Mumbai, Dec. 8: Tata Motors has launched its sports utility truck ? Tata TL 4x4 ? that doubles as a pick-up and a sports utility vehicle (SUV). It comes at an ex-showroom price between Rs 5.8 lakh and Rs 7.9 lakh.

According to Tata Motors, the Tata TL 4x4 has not only been designed to carry heavy loads in tough terrain but is also an ideal vehicle for adventurous people. It is equipped with a 1948cc indirect injection turbo-charged diesel engine.

With a gross vehicle weight of 2.78 tonnes, it has a power-weight ratio of 33, which is the highest in the light truck category.

The vehicle, which can adapt to steep heights, will run on tubeless tyres. This is for the first time in the country that tubeless tyres are being used for light truck applications. The Tata TL 4x4 comes with a five-speed gearbox, independent front suspension with torsion bars and suspensions at the rear to provide rigidity and comfort like an SUV.

The truck will be first launched in the western and southern regions. It will be rolled in the northern and eastern parts by February 2006.

The Tata TL 4x4, which shares the same platform as the Sumo and the Safari, was earlier launched in South Africa, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and West Asia and close to 25,000 vehicles have been sold globally.

Tata Motors president (light and small commercial vehicles) P.M. Telang is confident that the new vehicle, given its configuration and attributes, will cause a segment shift. The Tata TL 4x4 will be successful as there are a large number of domestic customers who want Indian vehicles of international class, he said.

He, however, refrained from giving any sales estimates or the size of the market. ?A new segment is being created. We would like it to find its own level,? he said.

Tata Motors was largely targeting individual customers, commercial vehicles business unit vice-president (sales and marketing) Shyam Mani said.