Tata motors have established a name for themselves in the automotive industry world-wide. They started out with been truck manufacturers{they still do} and been a desi company, thought of launching their first car. Their efforts bore fruit and the Indica was launched amidst much fanfare on 30 December 1998. There were many gripes with the earlier car which was subsequently ironed out in the V2 version launched in 2003. Tata motors have come a long way from that time and now have launched much modern cars like the Indica Vista, Indigo Manza and the new Tata Aria crossover. They also gave the world its own wonder car which sells for as less as Rs.1.30 lakhs and that is the Tata Nano.
Not content with all this laurels, the Indian car maker has been eyeing the luxury car segment. They displayed the Prima sedan first at the 2007 Geneva show. Since then Tata have been hounded with requests from the car buying public to put the Prima into production. Tata has now heeded to this requests by announcing that the Prima would be produced and marketed by mid of next year. Having acquired Jaguar and Land rover, Tata have used their know how and engine technologies in the Prima. The Prima would compete against the likes of Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and the Chevrolet Cruze.
It has been designed this time not by IDEA house{which designed the Indica} but by Pinnafarina. He, who of Ferrari fame, has given a coupe like silhouette to the sedan. It looks a bit like the Grande Punto from Fiat stables{when viewed front on}. The biggest attraction in the front is the LED lights and they have a blue hue about them. This would make it one of the most sought after car for all those night jaunts. It has a big honey comb grille and has a smiley of an air dam set up lower. The wheels are of those 15 inch types and the C-pillar{a Pinnafarina trademark} has been given a low roofline akin to a coupe. It integrates smoothly to the big but stylish boot. The boot is a masterpiece with LEDs staring out of it.
The interiors would also be high-tech with lots of gizmos to please the geek headed young executive who has been just promoted to the status of Jr.Manager. As with all Tata cars, interior packaging would be top notch and it can seat 5 in reasonable comfort. The choice of engines has been boiled down to a new 1.6 or 1.8 liter petrol or a 1.8 liter diesel. Both the engine types would incorporate Jaguar’s technical know how and would be very efficient in their class. The Tata Prima India has a wheel base of 2.72 metres. The Tata Prima launch in India would have Mcpherson strut with stabilizer at the front and Four link Coil spring as the rear suspension. Remove the Tata badge from the rear and stick on a BMW one and the car would very much be mistaken for a BMW. At this point, we can dare say that this is the best looking car from the Tata Motors stable so far.
Safety has also been taken care of with the base versions offering 4 airbags alongwith Rain-sensitive wipers, night sensing lights, Adaptive cruise control, reverse camera and energy crumple zones.
Braking is handled by advanced disc brakes all round with 4 channel ABS, Electronic Brake Distribution {EBD} and traction control {TCS} as standard. Higher versions would get cornering lights, bejeweled effect fog lamps and reverse parking sensors.
The Prima gets a twin silencer effect and the silencers are similar to the one found on Jaguars. It has been embedded neatly into the rear bumper. This lends it an overall sporty stance. The driving pleasure for this car would also be highly enhanced if Tata sources are to be believed.
Tata Prima price would be in Rs11- Rs.13 lakh. This would be one of the most expensive Tata cars to be on sale alongside the Tata Aria and expect a launch around October 2011.
