MUMBAI: Tata Motors is creating a new sub-brand, TAMO , to house performance cars that are on the Nano maker’s ambitions list of future products.The first product that is likely to spot the tag is a two-seater sports car, a prototype of which is getting ready at the company’s design centre in Italy and is expected to be launched after 2018-19. The owner of the marquee British brands Jaguar and Land Rover is hoping to create a “halo effect” around new products by displaying its automotive prowess to design and make vehicles, so as to entice customers in the highly competitive Indian market.TAMO will act also as a vertical that will incubate new concepts and business models, as the company aims to be future-ready to not only participate in the mainstream car business, but also in the new world of shared and connected mobility.ET was the first to report, in November, about the company’s plans of developing a sports car. In October, Tata Motors managing director Guenter Butschek told ET that it was mooting a separate vertical to work on new-age mobility solutions.Announcing its new passenger vehicle strategy on Thursday, Butschek said: "We needed a different way to drive into the future. There is tremendous amount of volatility and discontinuity in the market, be it with concept, products or services. It is a prerequisite to innovate in the future and TAMO is a step in that direction."Unveiling of the sports car will be done at the Geneva Motor Show next month and the strategy is in line with other carmakers such as Nissan and Ford, which have halo brands like GTR and Mustang that have a rub-off effect on other cars in their portfolio.The sports car project is being designed out of the company’s Italian engineering and design house, Trilix. A team of 50 people is working on the project. The prototype of this vehicle was likely ready by the end of 2016 and the work is now likely to be transferred to its Engineering and Research Centre in Pune.The sports car is planned on the X1 platform with a 1.2-litre twin turbo petrol engine, which would deliver over 180 bhp. Coined Futuro internally, the sports car will boast of a host connected technologies and will be used as a proof point of Tata Motors engineering prowess.The TAMO introduction is part of a transformation journey that the company has embarked upon, which calls upon complete restructuring of the organisation.TAMO, the company said, will operate on a low-volume, low-investment model to provide fast-tracked proofs of technologies and concepts, which will translate to mainstream cars in future. The company is setting up offices in Silicon Valley, the UK, Europe and India to create a web of incubators, which will contribute for the TAMO brand.Tata Motors announced also that it will be rationalising its six vehicle platforms into two, which will be modular in nature.The company internally calls the project Advance Modular Platform, or AMP, (one platform for cars and the other for utility vehicles) which will have 70% common parts across 15 modules. It is a 170-kg lighter architecture when compared with current ones and engineered for electric and hybrid powertrain options. These two new platforms will become the basis of the company’s portfolio post 2018-19.Mayank Pareek, president for passenger vehicle division at Tata Motors, said his biggest target is to ensure how Tata Motors can come in the consideration set of prospective buyers and the future product portfolio is designed to address this.