Tata Motors victorious in Eastern Mountain Safari 2011

Tata Sumo Grande - Winner of  the Eastern Mountain Safari 2011

Eastern Mountain Safari 2011 in which Tata Motors took part with 6 of their vehicles saw them emerge victorious. 2 vehicles each Tata safari, Tata Xenon and Tata Sumo Grande participated and it was the Tata Sumo Grande that bagged the trophy and prize money of Rs.5 lakhs. The drivers Aditya Anthony and Mohammed Musthafa were credited with steering the vehicle to success.

Tata Motors Full Throttle team who have also taken part in 2011 Raid De Himalaya and Desert Storm 2011 were confident of their success in the events. Eastern Mountain safari 2011 was organized by Ramakrishna Race Performance Management Pvt. Ltd on November 10-11, 2011 and consisted of a 400 km long and treacherous rally through the hilly regions and dense forests of Kurseong and Kalimpong.

Full Throttle is launched by Tata Motors to encourage the company to take part in both motor sports and other motor adventures across the country. The company has participated in a number of such rallies both in the country and on a global basis.

Source: Rush Lane

Tata Grande loses the Sumo Moniker; Soft launched with a Facelift

Continuing the new found focus of Tata Motors to hive off its vehicles into separate brands that do not conflict with each other, the Tata Sumo Grande will now simply be called the Tata Grande DICOR. This is a typical Tata move to re-brand vehicles which share names with previous offerings that has been previously practiced with cars like the Tata Indica Vista which is now the Tata Vista and the Tata Indigo Manza, which now is the Tata Manza. Thus, Sumo being an abbreviation of long time ex-TELCO boss Suman Moolgaonkar’s name has finally been vanquished from the Grande for good.

While we expected quite a lot from the Grande’s makeover along with this repositioning, the resulting product is merely a mid career visual facelift than any significant change. To be fair to Tata, the car maker didn’t really promise anything with this makeover, which is quite apparent why the Grande didn’t even see an official launch or for that matter a press release to signify its arrival into the market. In fact, it was the Vista’s recent makeover with better interiors and new design bits on the exterior that prompted us to expect much from the Grande.

Any which ways, the Tata Grande MPV now gets a facelifted exterior that includes a chromed front grille and side finishers, outer rear view mirrors with integrated turn indicators, chromed rub rails, chromed door handles(And, this bit will also make it to the Tata Merlin SUV), blacked out B and C-pillars which are nice touches and finally, new graphics which quite frankly aren’t too appealing visually. So, Tata has indeed given the Grande a refresh on the exteriors and this is something the automaker has to be credited for. On the interiors though, not much has changed.

The only difference is that most of the stuff Tata has printed in the brochure as “new” being marketing chutzpah. In fact, we’re quite surprised that Tata is actually misleading prospective customers by calling many of the features as new even though the features in question have been in existence even on the Sumo Grande Mark II. It isn’t to say that the Grande doesn’t have positives, yes sir it does but naming things differently and expecting the customer to fall for it is hitting below the belt Tata, and that isn’t something customers might not take lightly.

The supremely comfortable seats remain, with the 2 captain seats, a three seater bench layout and two seats at the rear in 7 seater and 8 seater configurations. Rear AC vents for both the second and the third rows are superb touches that make living in the Grande a very comfortable experience. These are points which Tata actually needs to advertise instead of harping on things which simply aren’t there or perhaps, Tata has forgotten to upgrade the Grande’s webpage selectively. That is about the Grande’s interiors.

Coming to the engine which powers the Grande, the same tried and tested 2.2 Liter DICOR common rail, turbo diesel engine albeit in a detuned form does duty on this MPV. the engine produces 120 Bhp of peak power and 250 Nm of peak torque, which is higher than the competition, read the Innova and the Xylo. But what is missing on the Grande are safety features like ABS and Airbags, which the competition provides. Suspension too doesn’t see any change with independently mounted coil springs up front and parabolic leaf springs at the rear. 

So, if you’re expecting any change in the bumpy ride quality that was the bugbear of Grande(in Sumo form), you would be disappointed. The Grande is also available with a 2 liter, 90 Bhp turbo diesel engine for BS3 towns and cities. All, the Grande with the 2.2 liter DICOR engine offers a decent package for the money you pay for as the entry level Grande begins at INR 7.1 Lakh Rupees, ex-showroom Delhi. The Grande comes with a 3 year, 100,000 Km warrant, extendable to a 4 year, 150,000 warranty. This is a price level which is just a little lesser than of the Xylo while the Innova remains significantly more expensive.

Source: Indian Cars Bikes

Tata Sumo Grande Facelift Scooped: Oncars

Tata built the Sumo "Grande Mark I" in 2008 to take on the Toyota Innova and the Mahindra Xylo. After a tough time at the hustings, they went back to the drawing board to effect a few changes and a year and a half later, the Sumo Grande Mark II was born. The MPV still couldn’t do much to dislodge either of the Innova-Xylo duo. Never the one to give up easily, Tata Motors is at it again, this time with the facelifted Grande Mark II.

Our friends at OnCars have managed to snap up a facelifted Grande Mark II testing. That said, the big changes on the exteriors of the Grande are the Mark II and Sumo badges missing apart from new graphics on the flanks of the Grande.

While it is still a little early o confirm whether the Grande will indeed lose the Sumo moniker along with the Mark II badge, thereis a fat chance that it could. We’ve seen this happen in a plethora of Tata products, ranging from the Tata Indica Vista which now sells as the Tata Vista and the Tata Indigo Manza which now sells as the Tata Manza. Tata products, value for money and spacousness being their strong points often times sell very well in the taxi market.

While this brings brisk sales to Tata as a manufacturer, more often than not, family car buyers are dissuaded by the Taxi images that many of the Tata cars come tagged with. The Tata Sumo has been around for the better part of a decade and a half now. The able MUV has had its days of glory and Tata might finally have decided that the Sumo brand is what that has been slowing down the Grande’s sales.

Hence, the Sumo(Incidentally the Sumo was named after Suman Moolgaonkar, TELCO’s late ex-chairman) name could go out of the window for the MPV to now be rechristened as only the Grande. Tata Motors will hope that this name change could change the fortunes of the Grande MUV, which for starters is quite a capable vehicle. This apart, the changes in the Grande will mainly be on the interiors and perhaps also on the suspension.

The Tata Grande’s interiors had many rough edges which Tata Motors will probably have ironed out during the course of the facelift. Another change expected is in the suspension department as the Tata Grande’s suspension was quite bumpy for the rear occupants due to the leaf spring layout at the rear as opposed to the independent coil springs on both the Toyota Innova and the Mahindra Xylo.

The engine however will remain the same, tried and tested 2.2 Liter DICOR mill, tuned to produce about 120 Bhp and 250 Nm, making it the class leader when it comes to engine output. So, the Grande does have reasonable ammo to turn out to be a winner in the segment, if and only if, the stodgy taxi image associated with the Sumo is eliminated. For a start, Tata seems to be on the right direction. The coming days will reveal much more. Watch this space!

Tata Sumo Grande to get a makeover in November

Since 1997, The Tata Sumo was the undisputed leader in the Indian MUV segment until a certain Toyota Qualis came along. Ever since, Tata Motors’ multiple attempts to fight back and regain lost ground with Sumo variants like the Victa and the Victa DI has only become an uphill task with a multitude of capable MUVs like the Mahindra Bolero and Chevrolet Tavera nibbling away at market share.

Tata Sumo Grande MPV

In the meanwhile, Toyota withdrew the QualisMUV at the peak of its demand, much to the surprise of most, and replaced the ultra successful Qualis with the Innova MUV, which soon became a best seller too.  Mahindta responded in a while with the Xylo MPV, which also is a brisk seller. Tata however was quite late to come up with an Innova challenger and when it did, the Sumo Grande was born.

But the sales for the Grande however have bee less than encouraging with the MPV remaining a distant third, behind the Innova and the Xylo. In yet another attempt by Tata to win back some market share and keep the Sumo Grande relevant in the MPV market, a facelift is being planned for the month of November, according to our sources. The Sumo Grande in itself is a very capable MPV that has plenty of potential.

For the uninitiated, the Tata Sumo Grande come with a 2.2 Liter DICOR diesel engine producing 120 Bhp. This engine mated to a 5 speed transmission endows the Sumo Grande with sprightly performance. The Sumo Grande also handles much better than the boat like Mahindra Xylo which pitches and rolls like a drunken elephant making for a very hairy high speed driving experience.

 The price of the Sumo Grande too is lower than both the Xylo and the Innova. So, the Sumo Grande does have some inherent strengths that Tata could really use to give the Sumo Grande a proper makeover by ironing out the rougher edges like the flimsy plastics, the notchy gearbox and the bumpy ride due to the leaf springs suspension layout at the rear.