Not many would argue against the fact that Tata Motors has come a long way in the past decade. It stopped making dated products such as the Nano, Zest and Indigo and graduated to producing more modern cars like the Tiago, Altroz and Nexon. During this transformation phase, it decided to cater a niche segment in the market – those who want performance over anything else. That saw Tata Motors create a 50:50 joint venture with JayemAutomotives, and called it JT Special Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. (JTSV). That company launched two turbocharged models – the Tiago JTP and the Tigor JTP.

Unfortunately, neither of those models have made it to the BS6 (Bharat Stage 6) era. It is outright sad to see both models bite the dust in less than two years of their launch. They looked great and had a punchy powertrain. Propulsion came from a 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine which produced 112bhp/150Nm, while a 5-speed manual handled transmission duties. That was enough for the twins to hit 100kmph from nothing in about 10 seconds.

In August last year, the models in questions received a few updates. That included the introduction of a 7.0-inch infotainment system, electrically-foldable ORVMs and automatic climate control (Tiago JTP). Apart from that, features like seatbelt reminder for the front passenger and a high-speed warning alert helped them to meet the mandatory safety norms.

So, what happens now? Tata Motors has signed an agreement to purchase the 50 per cent shareholding of JayemAutomotives in JTSV. What that means is once the deal goes through, JTSV will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Motors. In other words, owners of either of the JTP models need not worry about the aftersales support. Another positive takeaway is that we can expect more performance-oriented models in the future.