The new Tata Tigor is Tata Motors attempt to muscle into the lucrative Compact sedan market in India, a segment which it helped create with the Indica twins a long time ago. Much water has flown under the bridge since then and it will have to fight to stay ahead of the pack. But with the Tata Tigor, the way it is designed and handles, Tata Motors is strong contender says Karthick Annamalai.
Tata Motors which was once a contender for the top spot among Auto manufacturers in India, has seen it fortunes dwindling in last 5 years, thanks to to the onslaught of models from global majors like Renault, Ford, Honda etc. Once part of Top Trio, Tata Motors lagged behind Maruti and Hyundai by a huge margin. One of the main reasons is the Tata Motors failure to replace the Indicatwins (indica and indigo) with market requirements. Their feeble attempts in this direction – Vista and Manza bombed in the market. Even the new generation and newly styled Bolt and Zest duo didn’t draw the expected footfalls to their showrooms after the initial show of consumer interest, though the Zest’s sales are decent compared to other models. The Tata Tiago, resurrected the brand name and seems to be a hit in the market with an average sales of 5300 units in February and March 2017. While the Tiago is a hatchback, Tata is now entered the highly compact sedan segment dominated by Maruthi’s Swift Dzire with the Tata Tigor built on Tiago platform. Will it strike the right note? Let’s find out
Design and Features
In this age of mobiles and internet, a customer knows the product much more than the salesman. Design is the key to make a strong impression in the customer’s mind. The Tigor has scored big in this area. When it was first showcased at the 2016 auto expo, it earned much praise for its fluidic design and most importantly it’s no non-sense boot unlike some of its competitors. Smoked projector headlamps give the much-needed premium feel to the sedan.The Side profile is marked by attractive diamond cut alloys and sweeping belt lines accentuate the look. The rear is simple and reminds me of the latest generation Fiesta. It looks great though.
Step inside, you feel like you have entered the Tiago. The Tiago’s signature steering wheel is carried forward as also the Harman infotainment system. The Tigor gets the touchscreen music with voice command system which can be operated through steering mounted controls. The top variant comes loaded with Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) and Cornering Stability Control (CSC)
Dimension and tyres
The Tigor’s body line extends 50mm beyond the Tiago at 3992mm, while it has a width of 1677mm, and height 1537mm and wheelbase 2450mm. The diesel variants get 175/65 R14 tyres like the Tiago; however, the petrol variant comes with larger 175/60 R15 tyres. The Tigor’sboot space stands at 419L i.e 177L more than the Tiago.
Engine:
The 1.2L petrol unit puts out 85PS of max power and generates 114Nm of peak torque. The 3-cylinder diesel unit provides 70PS of peak power and 140Nm of peak torque. Both the engines come mated with a 5-speed manual transmission. Though the Tigor is 50Kg heavier than the Tiago, Tata has retained the same figures.
There are two driving modes as well – ‘City’ for performance and ‘Eco’ for those who love to extract more kilometres per litre. Similar to the Tiago, the petrol version is better drive than the noisy diesel. The three pot NVH is bad and refinement is not up to the competitor standard.
Ride and Handling
The Tigor’s electric power steering helps you to park and move through narrow lanes easily. Feedback at triple digit speed from the steering is also good. Ride quality is very similar to what we experienced with Tiago – it scores good. However, the ride gets jumpy over bad roads. For a car of this segment, the Tigor scores high in handling.
Verdict
If the Tata Tigor is to succeed, it must score high in all aspects as it competes with the Volkswagen Ameo, Hyundai Xcent, Honda Amaze, Ford Figo aspire and Tata’s own Zest in the market.
Tata is back in the segment it created a long time ago. Unlike the Indigo CS, Tata this time faces serious rivals for the Tigor. The engine is not its strongest USP rivals possess the potent 1.3L Fiat engine. It does not have many other negatives. It looks awesome, rides and handles well, is feature packed and most importantly it is priced very sensibly. It is priced between Rs4.7 lakhs to Rs6.19 lakhs for petrol and Rs5.6 lakhs to Rs7.09 lakhs for diesel. It undercuts the rivals by a huge margin in the highly price conscious segment. Indeed the Tigor might be another Tiago for Tata Motors if marketed well.
