Design Development: Tata EVision Concept

“The government in India has an aspiration for e-mobility. So our own theme of ‘connecting aspirations’ and that national aspiration tied up very well,” says Tata Motors’ head of global design Pratap Bose. “And we thought, what’s the best way to express this? We should do a real flagship sedan, which really symbolises everything about the resurgent company, the country, all of that, and the high-voltage EV technology we are developing in Europe anyway.”

Developed from start to finish in the studio at Tata Motors’ European technical centre (TMETC), Coventry, the EVision project took around 22-23 months and ran alongside the design programmes for the 45X and H5X concepts– “but it was under the radar, sort of an after-hours skunkworks project,” explains Martin Uhlarik, head of design at TMETC. The team took the Land Rover-derived ‘Omega arc’ (Optimal Modular Efficient Global architecture), as used for the H5X SUV concept, but in this case aimed to showcase how this could support an electric powertrain as well as the sedan bodystyle. Bose adds: “If we’re really going to set the bar for aspirations, a sedan has great symbolic value. We almost see a head of state driving in one of these cars.”

Exterior

At just under 4.8m long, the EVision is a similar size to the Jaguar XE, but has 100m extra rear legroom, Uhlarik explains. As with the H5X, the rear passenger compartment was a key factor in setting out the parameters for packaging and proportions. “The rear passenger is extremely important, especially in the context of India. Many cars of this class are chauffeured,” he says. Ingress and egress (entry and exit) must also be easy, hence the treatment of the DLO and height of the door aperture. “The cant rail in the C-pillar has more of a formal kick,” he says, “which I think makes the car look even more statesmanlike.”

“The way that Martin and the team have treated the tumblehome, that’s a little more upright than you might find in another car,” adds Bose. “It’s about grace, it’s about a certain dynamism, so the cabin to the wheels, to how it sits and where the pillars are, is all very carefully talked-through by the team.” He notes that the lengthened wheelbase helped in the packaging of the batteries, and to maintain dynamism without a low, swooping tumblehome, “you will see that the rear deck is a little shorter than you would expect on a traditional sedan.”

The challenge was to accommodate the desired amount of rear legroom within the relatively compact dimensions, too. “When you have that extra 100mm legroom, it’s important that it doesn’t look like you have a conventional car, and then all of a sudden the rear doors are stretched,” laughs Uhlarik. “You want to balance that front and rear door; finding that sweet spot graphically, proportionally, was super-important, because you don’t want to sacrifice the functionality of the legroom.” This took, he says, “lots of tapes, lots of side-rear reviews… and just a conventional classic approach to car design where the proportion models were made, the clay models were made, and refinement, refinement, refinement.” This was supported by standard Alias work with regular reviewing of the data, although the team intends to start using VR in the future at its soon-to-be-opened new studio facility.

Bose notes: “It may be a futuristic view, but we still went through the sketching process, the clay models, all of that: it’s very hand-touched, and you can feel that in the surfacing. We did a lot of 2D work in sketch size and then full size: we evaluate that straight away and you get some information. Then we did a couple of 40% clays, which we find very handy: you can share a lot of information, even outside the studio. 40% clay for us, I think, works very well: it has enough information to start looking like a real car, and then when you blow it up to full size, you have a lot less of a surprise.”

The EVision follows the 45X and H5X in showing Tata’s Impact 2.0 design language, which takes three key elements: a ‘humanity line’ underscoring the grille, a diamond-shaped DLO, and a wraparound ‘slingshot line’, and puts an emphasis on strength rather than aggression, an integral facet of Tata’s design identity. The elements remain consistent, but are interpreted and adapted for each car, its segment and target demographic.

“The slingshot line dissects through the car, is almost planar through it,” says chief exterior designer Matthew Swann. “This creates a very strong shoulder, a dramatic twist on the bodyside, a lot of movement. I wanted a really low deck to ground it, and secondly, this makes the slingshot line lower than on the others [45X and H5X]. It’s not forming the DLO, not linking to it [as on those cars], but separated from it.”

With no need for engine-cooling airflow, the design team were free to reimagine the grille. “It’s about creating the face of the car: the humanity line is stretched out a lot wider,” says Bose. “This emphasises the slimness of the lighting technology, it’s tighter to the lights. It [the line] is more 3D than on current production cars, there’s a little more discipline in terms of construction.” The most notable thing about the grille, of course, is its decorative detail: over 4000 aluminium pins forming a tri-arrow ‘jali’ pattern, inspired by Indian architecture and design. “These were all placed by hand, two weeks’ worth of work!” says Swann. “They’re placed behind a mask, like on a Citroen SM. I wanted the tri-arrow pattern to disintegrate towards the headlights.” Uhlarik adds that the dissipation of the pattern towards the lamps creates an ambiguous division. “We wanted to emphasise the width and stance, make it look a lot wider, and unlock that proportion,” he says, noting that the car sits on a relatively narrow platform. The pattern is repeated with the tiny tri-arrow appearing within the headlamps, and again larger on the roof, where it is applied over the glass to form graphic shadows in the cabin and give a sense of privacy.

Interior

The tri-arrow pattern is repeated inside – not just in perforated patterns on the upholstery, but as a more technical graphic detail on elements such as the speaker grilles. A quite unusual warm, soft colour and materials palette is applied. Chief interior designer Aurelien Doisy explains that the colours – including the dark blue-green ‘flip’ of the exterior paint – were inspired by the feathers of a peacock, the national bird and emblem of India, and how if you put a peacock feather under a microscope, you can draw out many different hues. “There’s an iridescent effect, a warm-cool pattern; we tried to emulate that, and play that up on colour and trim,” he says. “The colour of the door cards, for example, is on the spectrum you find in peacock feathers. The first things that inspire [you] in India is the warmth, colours, sun, architecture, light: that, coupled with the details, is the story of the interior.”

Doisy notes that in India the streets are buzzing and traffic very busy, so he wanted to find a way to isolate the car’s occupants from that, pointing to the graphics of the HMI and instrument cluster: “pastel colours, serene, not aggressive; blending in, a seamless integration of technology.” Uhlarik adds: “The HMI graphics are not the traditional, technical, almost Germanic or Bauhaus interpretations of speed controls, tachometers, interface: they are much more human, playful, colourful, non-aggressive, but at the same time intuitive and easy to understand. It very much synchs with that overall interior, that sereneness, and I think it’s very contemporary.”

The leather is soft – but with the cow a sacred animal in India, it is from water buffalo instead. This is similar to work with, Doisy says. The pale white, cream and grey of the upholstery and the wool carpets is given an added zing by the dramatic, high-contrast grain of the Zebrano wood trim details, untreated bar a coating of protective oil, and the bright peacock-blue stitching and shiny piping on the seats – the latter in a silk sari-type fabric to provide a contrast to the matte and satin finishes.

Doisy points out as well the Coanda-type air vents: “they’re not aggressive and directional, they’re more renewing the air in the cabin, diffusing, like a spa flavour.” And the pair of ‘hidden’ screens – an iPad-like interface folding out from the central curve of the IP, and a thin, wide strip emerging along the base of the windscreen – further emphasise the tranquillity, not overloading the occupants with information and only deploying as needed. Again, as with the 45X and H5X, the interior architecture was defined around future-proofing the cockpit and being able to accommodate advances or new demands in technology.

Programme and presentation

Bose and Uhlarik say that although the EVision, H5X and 45X programmes employed traditional modelling techniques, the highly digitised TAMO Racemo programme had a direct influence and inspiration in terms of how to connect to an audience, ways of working, and even in developing a new aesthetic vocabulary. “We have cut short development times and costs; significant costs taken out,” says Bose. “It’s influenced this project, made us more efficient, the loops are faster between physical and digital. It was a very valuable project in many ways, both expected and unexpected!” Uhlarik adds: “We’re seeing the effect of 3D design on the aesthetic, we’re getting the flavour of 3D printing, the feel and execution, even in our production car programmes.”

The Tata team also introduced a new way of presenting their work to management – to whom the EVision was a surprise. Rather than simply pulling off a sheet to show the car, “we darkened the room, we had some projections on the car, audiovisuals and sound, it was very dramatic!” says Bose. “There was some comfortable seating, with a coffee table, so our managing director and top brass could look at the car and have a seat, ponder it, reflect on it,” adds Uhlarik. “It was a very effective way of unrolling it. Because they didn’t know it was coming.” This stage-managed approach achieved the desired effect: the management were “just stunned”, Bose says, “and the decision was just where and when we reveal the car to the world.”

The EVision show car – not a functioning prototype, but fully-trimmed and fitted with real wheels, lamps and suchlike – was revealed at the Geneva motor show in March 2018. “EVision is something that is really, for us at the moment, an out of the box expression,” says Bose. “You will see elements of it in future cars, in future sedans that we do: they may not be in that size, but it’s a design language donor.”

Check out the image galleries at right for many more exclusive images from the design and development process

EVision: People & dimensions

The Tata Team

Pratap Bose: Head of Design Global

Martin Uhlarik: Head of Design UK

Scott Neale: Program Manager

Pierre-Paul Andriani: Digital Manager

Matthew Swann: Chief Designer Exteriors

Jonathan Frear: Assistant Chief Designer Exteriors

Jon Corrie: Principal Designer Exteriors

Hyunjoon Park: Senior Designer Exteriors

Brad Page: Senior Designer Exteriors

Aurelien Doisy: Chief Designer Interiors

Zach Whitaker: Lead Designer Interiors

Thomas Hooper: Lead Designer Interiors

Marc Vu: Senior Designer Interiors

EVision Dimensions

Overall length: 4775mm

Overall Width: 1850mm

Overall height: 1425mm

Wheelbase: 2770mm