Similar to Maruthi Suzuki, Tata has also surprised me in recent times. This time I am going to speak about one such car which had impressed me from Tata Motors' stable.
Tata launched the Indigo sedan in 2002. It went to launch a few more variations of it in the upcoming years. It even had a station wagon called Indigo Marina but nothing was up to the par till 2009. It was the time when Ford Fiesta and Honda City were in the peak of its sales. Tata launched the Indigo Manza, in the third quarter of 2009. It had both 1.4litre petrol and 1.3litre diesel variants.
 |
| Indigo Manza |
500000 to 800000 which was almost 200000(aprrox $4000) less than Ford Fiesta and Honda City. There are around four variants with the higher end variant having ABS and Airbags.
With the increase of fuel prices in India, diesel was always quite cheaper than petrol. So, the first one to get hit was Honda. The sales of the Honda City dropped just within months. Almost ever customer started to get second thoughts. Higher fuel efficiency, cheaper fuel and spares and costs almost 20% cheaper with the same kind of comfort.
I myself have been in and driven one of my friend's car back in India. His was a diesel variant but the acceleration was very good for a diesel car. Very posh interiors, I would say at par with its competitors in the segment. With touches of chrome in both interior and exterior design, it makes a statement on the road. The ride control is pretty good even at higher speeds and the ABS does really work well. The engine though is a Fiat-Tata collaborated one, no complains about it.
 |
| Manza 2012 |
With the sales peaking for Manza, Tata is set to unveil a Hybrid version of Manza in the AutoExpo 2012 in January. It is going to be a tough competition for Toyota, which is still struggling to gain market share for its sedan Etios, Hyundai's new face-lifted version of Verna and also Ford's new Fiesta.
No comments:
Post a Comment