Tata Altroz vs Toyota Etios Cross

The Tata Altroz Racer, as the name suggests, is a racier version of the standard hatchback with a more powerful engine, cosmetic changes, and additional features. Here is our first drive review of it.

It’s a crossover… It’s a hatchback… No, we don’t know! And since we don’t have a name for this segment of cars, we are going to begin by christening them Hatchovers! The Etios Cross is the latest entrant to this India-specific segment, where the cars look rugged and bulky like crossovers, but offer pretty much the same utility as that of a hatchback. It may be a unique distinction for the Indian automotive market, but not something that we should be proud of. What exactly is the purpose of the hatchover then? What made manufacturers like Volkswagen, Skoda and Toyota enter this segment? Is it just a passing fad or will we see more vehicles of this kind in future? We spend some time with the Etios Cross to get to the bottom of this riddle.

This is the new CNG variant of the Tata Altroz. It joins the CNG portfolio of the carmaker, alongside the Tiago and Tigor. Its prime competitors are the Maruti Suzuki Baleno and the Toyota Glanza which are also offered in CNG versions but fewer variants; the Altroz CNG can be had in as many as six variants. Does this and the new segment-first features make it any good? We find out in this review.