The Case for the Tata Indigo

[GTO]

After the stupendous success of the Tata Indica (touching as much as 8500 units per month), the Indigo was introduced, not surprisingly at a very competitive price. Much more than just an Indica with a boot, Tata aggressively marketed the fact that the Indigo has had a lot more engineering in it.

The car is incredibly spacious and comfortable, a strong virtue of this platform. It is pretty decent in looks and not too many can argue that it is a design much more modern than the now-outdated esteem. Tata does have one of the best paintjobs in the country and this reflects in my best friends blue Indica, which ever after 5 years and 60000 kms looks as fresh as Maruti products of similar vintage. The ride quality is great and the diesel offers almost Indica levels of fuel economy. In fact Autocarindia calls the Indigo "the best value for money midsizer, especially the petrol version which undercuts some hatchbacks". The prices in Mumbai start at 4.16 lacs for the petrol versions and 4.67 lacs for the diesel powered Indigos.

Tata has slowly but steadily sorted out most of its quality problems, and what better proof of this than the Indigo being a favorite among fleet buyers? Tourist taxi operators look at reliability, running costs (including fuel economy) and depreciation as the factors influencing sensible investments. Look around, you will see more black/white Indigo tourist taxis than you expected! Indicas and Indigos are now very reliable products.

Unlike market doubts about a certain Italian and Korean manufacturer, potential buyers can be sure that Tata is going to be around for a long long time to offer service and spares to its customer. In fact, very few manufacturers know the Indian car buyer as well as Tata - Does it reflect in the sales figures? You bet....

The Indigo has already held the award for being the best selling sedan in India!

GTO

[Rtech]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Tata does have one of the best paintjobs in the country and this reflects in my best friends blue Indica, which ever after 5 years and 60000 kms looks as fresh

I read somewhere that the Indica/Indigo cars share the same paint booth as the Mercedes Benz SKD's. That explains the quality of their paint! Unless it means that MB are being cheap ...hmmm. JK!!

[adityapd]

GTO,

praising a tata huh ? its time we became a li'lle more patriotic * *lol what say guys ?

anyway since we are on the topic, thought this awesome test ride report would make the above case all the more stronger

[Neel]

I used to hear that the MB plant was within(close to) the TELCO Plant at Pune and they have picked up the best from the MB Paint shop for the Indica..
Don't have the complete story *

[v12]

Ya the paint shop was picked from MB. Even the Safari uses the MB paint shop i guess.

P.s. I'm not 100% sure

[S350L-E240]

dont MB parts come painted?? frm germany?

[adityapd]

have heard a lot of stories about the MB paint shop at pune..one amongst them being that everyone who enters the paint shop has to remove all rings,chains n' stuff ...even the nails have to nicely trimmed to avoid scratches on the cars inside

~A

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (S350L-E240 @ May 07 2004,10:45)]dont MB parts come painted?? frm germany?

no

Thats why you have a limited colour range and Telco cars in similar colours- bodies shipped to Telco for painting and shipped to MB for assembly. Paint shop is ex Nissan Austrailia revamped to MB standards

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Neel @ May 06 2004,17:50)]I read somewhere that the Indica/Indigo cars share the same paint booth as the Mercedes Benz SKD's. That explains the quality of their paint! Unless it means that MB are being cheap ...hmmm. JK!!



I used to hear that the MB plant was within(close to) the TELCO Plant at Pune and they have picked up the best from the MB Paint shop for the Indica..
Don't have the complete story *

Ya the paint shop was picked from MB. Even the Safari uses the MB paint shop i guess.
P.s. I'm not 100% sure

dont MB parts come painted?? frm germany?

have heard a lot of stories about the MB paint shop at pune..one amongst them being that everyone who enters the paint shop has to remove all rings,chains n' stuff ...even the nails have to nicely trimmed to avoid scratches on the cars inside *
~A

Mercedes Benz cars do share the same paint shop with Tata. the only difference is in the prosess and the paint quality.
S class onwards in abroad started a new process which is known as ceramic coated paint. This is to get a better paint protection from surface disturbances and of course more gloss.
Maybach is the point in case.