And while we are talking about Tata Nano, let us talk about another car from the same manufacturer which, when launched, impacted the market quite heavily. What I am talking about is a hatchback which established Tata as a serious contender in the passenger car market and sold extremely well. It has been one of the highest selling cars as well. The car is – Indica.
You have loved it, you have loathed it, but no one could ever ignore it. There are people who swear by the comfort it offers while there are people who are frustrated by the reliability issues. There are people who were mighty impressed by the looks and then there were people who stayed away because of the ‘taxi’ image that the Indica had built for itself. And then there was the maintenance factor!
Tata, despite of all this, has continued to make Indica and has been working on making it better with each bolt going in. It has to be said that they have been reasonably successful at that as well. But everyone realized that it was time to give a big blow of improvement to the Indica and have now come out with this – New Indica. The essential design remains the same but boy would you look at those massive headlamps! Peeled back, wide-eyed, it is jeweled with a clear-lens treatment which accentuates the grown-up grille section as well. The grille has a ‘bee-hive’ look and the chrome strip running atop it makes the front end look smart. The rear is more or less the same. This two-box hatchback gets a refreshing style change which was more than just needed, but more will always be welcome. Specially when you look at the Grande Punto from Fiat which is stunningly gorgeous, you tend to think, could any other small car look this beautiful?
The interiors have been given a complete makeover as well. The instrument cluster now sits in the middle of the dashboard. With an addition of 70mm to the wheelbase over the current Indica, expect the space to go up another fraction which will certainly be a great job. Being bigger than the current Indica, New Indica will be 3795mm in length, 1695mm wide and 1550mm tall. The look and feel of the inside is rather rich and the fascia looks tidy. The top end version may also come with a lumber-support adjustment option.
Now this brings us to what everyone has been waiting for - the engines. The New Indica will be powered by Fiat engines henceforth. Not that the regular Indica will seize to exist, no. Indica will surely be sold and the New Indica will only complement it to make the portfolio even more appealing. A 1.3L quadra-jet common rail direct injection diesel engine will be doing duty under the hood while bringing the power of petrol to the New Indica will be a 1.2L Safire petrol engine from the Fiat stable which will feature variable valve timing. Mated to the engines will be a 5-speed synchromesh gearbox. The engines will be manufactured at the Ranjangaon facility.
The Indica has always been a comfy car and Tata has beefed up the suspension even further. A twist beam type layout will complement bigger 175/65 R14 tubeless tyres. Expect the New Indica to be made available in the latter part of ’08.
More on Tata Indica:
