Publications
Partners
Tata Bolt
Price: To be announced
In the city of Mumbai, you can drive without using your car’s engine. Because once you’ve entered the stream of cars – well, it’s more like the Ganges in flood – your car is simply pushed along. That’s what it feels like, anyway. The sensation comes from how close the cars, SUVs, buses, bikes, tuk-tuks and trucks are to one another. And yet, there’s no aggression or road rage. It just works.
I was in India to test-drive the new Tata Bolt, a small hatchback that will go on sale in South Africa next month. But after an hour in the traffic in Mumbai (population 12 million), I didn’t want to drive. Tata Motors knows how daunting India’s traffic is to outsiders, so we were ferried around in Tata SUVs and people carriers.
First we went to Tata Motors HQ in Bombay House, where the head of passenger vehicles, Mayank Pareek, explained that the company was reinventing itself.
I suspect Tata devoted most of its resources to conceive and manufacture the ground-breaking Tata Nano and put it on the market for just 100 000 rupees (R21 000). It’s cute as a button and a noble project, but it didn’t take off in the way the company had hoped. Now it concentrates on building smallish hatchbacks like the Bolt, and SUVs like the dashing Hexa, also destined for Mzansi.
From Mumbai we travelled to Pune, India’s new Silicon Valley and home to the Tata Motors factory. Here we had a chance to drive the Bolt hatch and sedan on the test track.
Let’s talk styling and interior first.
The Bolt is a more stylish car than the Tata Indica Vista it replaces, yet I found the exterior design a little bland. I was hoping that Jaguar design director Ian Callum had done some moonlighting for Tata, seeing that the Indian company owns Jaguar Land Rover. But the Bolt is not an unattractive car either, so go check it out for yourself next month and see what you think.
The interior quality is a substantial improvement on the Vista’s, and the sound and info system by Harman (owner of high-end hi-fi company Harman Kardon) will throw a decent street party. The Bolt also measures up against similarly sized hatchbacks in terms of roominess, but luggage space is sufficient rather than generous. Its safety features include two air bags, anti-lock brakes and, very importantly, electronic stability control, which controls the car in a skid to prevent a crash.
Under the hood, there’s a smooth-running 1.2-litre turbo engine. Don’t get excited – it’s not a sizzler, but it does boost power delivery at the lower end of the rev range, so there’s no reason to push the engine hard in everyday driving. At the end of the year, a sportier Bolt with low-profile tyres and more powerful engine should reach our shores.
Our drive on the track revealed a car with little interior noise, a composed and superbly comfortable ride, safe handling and compliant suspension – a quality many Indian car models possess.
With the Bolt, Tata has leapt forward. Here’s hoping this leap excludes retail pricing, but sadly many importers are being pummelled by the depressing rand-dollar exchange rate, and Imperial, which owns Tata Motors SA, has to pay in dollars when buying Bolts. Retail prices will only be announced next month, but I guess these will range from R145 000 to R170 000.
For that, you will get a safe, reliable, affordable car that’s pleasant and easy to drive. It deserves to do well in South Africa
