Tata Telcoline Reviews

The Indian Tata brand has thrown a Myna bird among the cheap Chinese pick-ups. It relaunched in Australia this week with a six-model ute range from $22,990 drive-away for a cab-chassis to $29,990 drive-away for a four-door crew-cab ute. The starting price bravely pitches the Tata at a premium. The Chinese utes start

It might not be on Fusion Automotive's shopping list right now, but the diminutive Tata Nano does have some future possibilities. At least that's what we thought after squirting one around Tata's test track near Mumbai.The original idea was to put a car within reach of India's masses, but after a year there's been a re-think and it is now being plugged as a mini for the city.PRICE AND FEATURESThe big thing about the little car is its price. It costs the equivalent of $3000, which is less than many Australians pay for a push bike. Viewed in that light, it's a very attractive little jigger. And it's not so little inside.There's room for four tall people, it has aircon, and despite its 28kW/51Nm twin-cylinder 634cc motor and four-speed gearbox, it runs pretty well. That's because it has a mass of only 600kg. And one windscreen wiper, three studs to hold each of the saucer-sized wheels on, and a few other cost-saving measures.DRIVINGWe managed to wind one up to 85km/h on the short test track and the upside of that is very little chance of setting off a Multanova or other safety device the politicians think up. Suspension is all independent, but without anti-roll bars. And to reach the boot you need to fold the back seat down.The steering was a bit iffy, likewise the four drum brakes, but for three grand we reckon it's much better than a bicycle. Whether it would pass our safety crash tests is another matter. It has to fare better than a bike though.And if it can cope with India's roads, it can certainly last a long time on our smooth blacktop. We had a lot of fun in it. But don't hold your breath for release in Australia. Not for a couple of years, at least -- by which time our cities might be so congested that Nanos might be the answer.

Tata will launch its six-variant Xenon range into local showrooms in October.

Long sections of the road between Mumbai and Tata's impressive plant at Pune, about 160km away, are more brutal than any track likely to be found in Australia. But the purpose-built Indian vehicles cope without trouble, indicating that the Tata Xenon utes soon to arrive in Oz could be among the toughest of their kind.PRICEThe one-tonners are robust machines, built for India's comparatively awful roads, but they're also stylish, well-finished and the Fusion Automotive distributors say they will be priced below their Japanese rivals and slightly above the new breeds from China. Prices will be announced when they land in October, but think $20 to 30K, depending on cab choice and 4x2 or 4x4 configuration.EQUIPMENTThe Xenon is one of the better-looking utes and comes with a fair bit of kit, including ABS with EBD, Bluetooth, air con, power windows and mirrors, an adjustable steering and a neat, uncluttered dash. But there's no cruise control or option of automatic transmission.Extra stuff, from late this year, will include a hill holder, traction control and electronic stability control. And prettying it up will be easy, probably via dealer-fitted alloys, decals, spotties and the like. The five-speed gearbox is a goodie, the power steering is typical ute and seating and visibility were fine, as were the paint and fit and finish.What Australia needs to realise is that Tata is no johnny-come-lately outfit. It is an up to date company that has been building vehicles for decades and Oz has somehow managed to become the last place on the planet to become aware of the brand.THE DRIVE A few runs on the test track at Pune, which has a surface like Australia's highways, showed the 110kW/320Nm turbo-diesel had lots of pace, stability and was commendably quiet. Tata has state-of-the-art facilities at its vast Pune plant, among them a division specialising in noise reduction.VERDICTThe Xenon has the looks, the muscle and the reputation. Final price will be the deciding factor.Tata Xenon utePrice: $20 to 30KEngine: 2.2-litre 4-cylinder, 110kW/320NmTransmission: 5-speed manual, 4x2 and 4x4

The new challenger in the bargain-basement end of the ute market has heralded its arrival with a high-riding concept pick-up styled by the head of design at Holden Special Vehicles.The new Australian distributor of Tata pick-ups has unveiled a one-off show car ahead of the brand’s showroom debut next month. The Tata “Tuff Truck” is not likely to make it into production but some of the locally-designed accessories may become a reality.Tata vehicles are distributed by a company owned by the Walkinshaw family, who also happen to represent Holden Special Vehicles, which is where the design services of Julian Quincey came in. The same person who styled the new HSV GTS had a hand in the added extras on this Tata Xenon ute.“We wanted to create a concept car that reflected Australians’ love of the outdoors and the ruggedness of our landscape,” said Darren Bowler, the managing director of Tata distributor Fusion Automotive.“By engaging Julian Quincey and the Walkinshaw Automotive engineering and design teams in the development of the concept vehicle we have been able to leverage over 25 years in vehicle design and styling to produce a concept vehicle.”Quincey said: “I think the humble crew-cab ute has already become an object of desire in its own right and we wanted to show how well the Xenon design works when carefully visually developed to suit the local market.”The Tata brand will return to Australia next month but the vehicle it is most famous for — the tiny Nano city runabout, at $2800 the cheapest car in the world — will not be among the models for sale. Tata will relaunch with a new range of utes called the Xenon later this year before adding passenger cars next year. Prices and model details of the ute are not yet announced but the company said the range “will offer a greater level of value than what is currently available in the market”. The prices of Chinese utes start at $17,990.Tata vehicles have been sold on and off in Australia since 1996 after a Queensland distributor began importing them mainly for farm use.  There are an estimated 2500 Tata heavy-duty pick-ups on Australian roads already. But there are many more Indian-made cars on Australian roads, albeit with foreign badges. More than 20,000 Indian-made Hyundai i20 hatchbacks and more than 14,000 Indian-made Suzuki Alto small cars have been sold in Australia since 2009.But other, Indian-branded vehicles have not been so successful. Australian sales of the Mahindra range of utes and SUVs have been so weak the distributor is yet to report them to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.The original Mahindra ute scored a poor two stars out of five in independent crash tests and was later upgraded to three stars following engineering changes. The Mahindra SUV launched with a four-star rating at a time when most vehicles are awarded five stars. There is as yet no star-rating for crash safety on the new Tata ute range.However, the new distributor for Tata vehicles in Australia believes the origin of the vehicles will be a competitive advantage. “There is no tougher place on earth to test vehicles than on the tough and demanding roads of India,” said the newly-appointed distributor of Tata vehicles in Australia, Darren Bowler, of Fusion Automotive.Tata Motors — India’s largest automobile company — acquired Jaguar and Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company in June 2008, in the grip of the Global Financial Crisis. The acquisition gave Tata access to Jaguar and Land Rover designers and engineers but Tata is yet to release an all-new model with their input. The Tata Xenon ute was released in 2009 and is also sold in South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, the Middle East, Italy and Turkey.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

The bargain basement end of the ute market is set to be joined by a new cut-price competitor from India. The Tata brand is returning to Australia but the vehicle it is most famous for — the tiny Nano city runabout, at $2800 the cheapest car in the world — will not be among the models for sale.Tata is expected to relaunch with a new range of utes called the Xenon later this year before adding passenger cars next year. Prices and model details of the ute are not yet announced but the company said the range “will offer a greater level of value than what is currently available in the market”. The prices of Chinese utes start at $17,990.Tata vehicles have been sold on and off in Australia since 1996 after a Queensland distributor began importing them mainly for farm use. There are an estimated 2500 Tata heavy-duty pick-ups on Australian roads already. But there are many more Indian-made cars on Australian roads, albeit with foreign badges. More than 20,000 Indian-made Hyundai i20 hatchbacks and more than 14,000 Indian-made Suzuki Alto small cars have been sold in Australia since 2009.But other, Indian-branded vehicles have not been so successful. Australian sales of the Mahindra range of utes and SUVs have been so weak the distributor is yet to report them to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.The original Mahindra ute scored a poor two stars out of five in independent crash tests and was later upgraded to three stars following engineering changes. The Mahindra SUV launched with a four-star rating at a time when most vehicles are awarded five stars. There is as yet no star-rating for crash safety on the new Tata ute range.However, the new distributor for Tata vehicles in Australia believes the origin of the vehicles will be a competitive advantage. “There is no tougher place on earth to test vehicles than on the tough and demanding roads of India,” said the newly-appointed distributor of Tata vehicles in Australia, Darren Bowler, of Fusion Automotive.Tata Motors — India’s largest automobile company — acquired Jaguar and Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company in June 2008, in the grip of the Global Financial Crisis. The acquisition gave Tata access to Jaguar and Land Rover designers and engineers but Tata is yet to release an all-new model with their input. The Tata Xenon ute was released in 2009 and is also sold in South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, the Middle East, Italy and Turkey.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

The Nano micro car sells for the equivalent of around $2770 in India, making it the world’s cheapest production car. However that price could rise for a new model Tata is talking about taking into the US and Europe.Tata chairman Ratan Tata told industry journal Automotive News he plans to launch the Nano in the US within three years, and will follow with a venture into European markets. The Nano was originally designed to compete in the Indian market against scooters and motorcycles, but relatively higher prices compared to two-wheel rivals has seen just 175,000 sales to India’s population of 1.2 billion.Launched in 2009, the Nano uses a range of cost-cutting measures to keep the price down. The boot doesn't open – you access it by folding the rear seats down from inside the car -- there is no power steering (deemed unnecessary because of its light weight), a single windscreen wiper, one side mirror instead of two and three nuts instead of four or five on the wheels.There is no airbag or ABS and the tiny 624cc two-cylinder rear-mounted engine puts out just 24kW and 48Nm with a claimed economy of less than 4.0 litres per 100km. The Nano has a four-speed manual transmission, driving the rear wheels.In the Indian home market there is a mid-specced model with air-conditioning while the luxury LX adds power windows and central locking. The models being developed for export markets are expected to be slightly larger with a bigger three-cylinder engine, ABS and at least two airbags to meet safety regulations.Tata’s plans for export are for the moment looking only at left-hand drive markets, so it’s unlikely we’ll see the Nano in Australian showrooms – even if it passed Australia’s fairly stringent design and safety regulations. 

Tata has unveiled the tiny Megapixel technology concept at Geneva motor show.Based on the Pixel concept that starred for the Indian carmaker at Geneva last year, the Megapixel is a pointer to the brand’s future styling and a speculator of future technology features.The 3.5-metre microcar is powered by four independent electric motors – one in each wheel – which combine to give a very muscular 369 Nm of torque, but doesn’t get it much past 100km/h.The quad motor set allows the wheels to steer and turn separately when parking, so you can spin the car in its own footprint. Tata calls the function the Zero Turn, saying the Megapixel can execute a 2.8-metre radius.The motors are powered by a 13kWh lithium-ion phosphate battery pack, which recharges through a wireless induction system - you park the car over the charging mat and walk away.A full charge gives you 85km of driving, but a petrol-fuelled generator onboard recharge on the move to extend the range to 900km – with a claimed fuel economy of 1.0-litre per 100km and an astonishing emissions count of just 22g/km (about a quarter of the Toyota Prius).The dashboard features a smartphone dock linked to a touchscreen interface that also controls airconditioning, audio and other features. The four doors swing and slide out of the way along the car body to wipe out parking lot pressure instead of the next-door car’s paintwork, and with no central pillar there’s easy access for even a man-sized body into the Megapixel’s micro body.Will it go into production? Unlikely. But what’s on the cards is seeing some of those features developed on future cars as congestion and emissions pressure increases.

The Tata Nano usually sells in India for the equivalent of about $2800, and was designed to an affordable ‘people’s car’ for the country’s poorer populace. However this one has been encrusted with 80kg of gold, 15kg of silver and several million dollars worth of precious stones and pearls. The car was unveiled by Ratan Tata, head of the giant Tata Group that now also owns British brands Jaguar and Land Rover – and by the look of it, is cashed-up enough to invest heavily in their future development. The design on the car was chosen from three finalists by public poll, with the winning design getting more than 2 million votes. The car was decorated by the Indian jewelry chain, Goldplus, and unveiled at Mumbai’s Tata Theatre, but will leave from there on a six-month tour of India. No doubt it will bring shining joy to the underpaid out in some of the poverty-stricken areas.

... but no supercar can turn on a dime like the Tata "Pixel" concept.Shown at Geneva motor show, the Pixel is a 3m long city car based on the Tata Nano and has a unique, UK-invented "zero turn" drive system.It allows the four-seater car to turn almost within its own length and makes a doddle of parking in congested European city streets - which is exactly where Tata is targeting the car.The steering agility is attributed to a new transmission from UK-based - but majority owned by Allison Transmission of the US - company Torotrak which has its technology on machinery including lawn mowers and industrial vehicles.Torotrak's "infinitely variable transmission" has a spin-on-the-spot functionality which - at low vehicle speeds - controls each rear wheel independently. It allows the wheels to turn in opposite directions.The result is a turning circle of 5.2m compared with most small cars at about 9m.Tata Motors CEO, Carl-Peter Forster, says there is "an opportunity in Europe for a city car, which is optimal in space, manoeuvrability and environment-friendliness.""The Tata Pixel is a reflection of Tata Motors - idea of what such a car should be."But there's no conformation that the Pixel will become reality.Tata, which also owns Jaguar Land Rover, has boasted that the Pixel is the world's most space-efficient four-seat car. It has features including scissor doors to make ease of entry and exit in tight spaces.Power comes from a three-cylinder 1.2-litre turbo-diesel that is mounted in the rear.Tata claims an average fuel economy of 3.4 litres/100km and CO2 emissions of just 89g/km.The car also showcases "My Tata Connect" which integrates the owner's smartphone or iPad with the vehicle's infotainment system and also allows control of the car's key functions."This provides a customised, user friendly, all-in-one touch screen display, while also allowing the driver to remain seamlessly connected to the external world in much the same way as they would be when at home or in the office, listening to favourite songs, internet news and sport or stock updates," Tata says."In addition to serving as the infotainment display when docked in the instrument panel, the tablet also allows temperature, ventilation and airconditioning settings to be adjusted through its touch screen, as well as displaying information on the vehicle's performance."