Indian Autos blog

We have word from our friends at AutoBlog Spain that the Tata Indica Vista will be launched in their country on the 23rd of this month as the original Indica cannot meet emission or safety norms.

We wrote to AutoBlog Spain’s Enrique Garcia and he left us the note.

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Indian Autos Blog reader Hari sent us these screen grabs from the movie “Safe House” that was released on the 10th of February. The movie starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds must be Tata Motors’ current favorite as the Indica Vista shares screen space with the actors. This is the first instance of a Tata Motors vehicle in a Hollywood movie.

The Vista may not win an Academy award for its cameo but we think it deserves more significant roles in future Hollywood films. I mean its boring to see the usual American or European models as getaway cars or in hot pursuit.

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If you ask me what is new on the Indica Vista refresh, I can’t point out too many things. The idea is very simple however – the facelift provides Tata Motors a chance to iron out small niggles, add few features and remind customers that their entry is a worthy alternative to the Swift or the Etios Liva.

What’s changed at the front?

The front end has been transformed by the transplant of the Manza’s face. The triple barrel headlamp is new and in comes what Tata calls as “Chrome Pack” that adorns richness and premiumness to the Vista. For a car under 6 lakh rupees, the Vista has the highest chromed components.

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One of TheAutomotiveIndia.com’s members have managed to sneak into a Tata Motors dealership to bring images of the Indica Vista facelift. The Vista facelift will be launched on the 22nd of this month. Tata Motors might not conduct a press conference as the new Vista is a cosmetic makeover based on its elder sister Manza.

If you look at the photographs, the changes are very evident. An adaptation of the Manza’s front end is present. The rear gets an Etios-esque band that runs along the width of the tailgate. The Tata badge in upper case sits right below logo. The naming convention has changes too with LS, VX and ZX being the new names.

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Sources with direct knowledge on the matter have told IndianAutosBlog.com that Tata Motors will launch the Indica Vista facelift on the 22nd of this month.

The Vista has been around for three years now and variants, apart from the addition of Vista 90, have remained largely the same. Sales of the product has been dull and the facelift with a slight price revision, Tata hopes, can make the Vista a better vehicle.

The new Vista will have cosmetic changes such as

• Twin barrel lamps from the Manza
• Chrome slabs between the lights (again from Manza)
• Chrome surround on the fog lamps
• New color option, perhaps the yellow from the Auto Expo Indica Vista Sport concept
• Steering-mounted audio controls
• Powered outside mirrors

A shakedown in the variant names will result in LS, VX and ZX. The ZX is the top-end model with alloy wheels. Engines will be retained and the 1.4 TDI model will not be upgraded to meet BS4 norms. Tata Motors uses Fiat’s 1.3-liter Multi-jet and 1.2/1.4-liter SAFIRE engines in BS4 cities.

The Vista facelift is to prepare the Tata car for fresh competition which arrive in the form of Etios Liva, Honda Brio and more importantly the new Swift with new features. Bluetooth pairing facility and steering-mounted controls are features that have been added to the new Swift. Tata is often seen publishing Vista ads on newspapers drawing one-sided feature wise comparisons with the Swift.

Will these features along with the Manza’s front-end give the Vista a new lease of life?

As Tata Aria and Tata Safari Merlin become the ‘talk of the town’ vehicles from the Tata Camp, we forget the humble Indica Vista which is the bread earner for the company. Unfortunately, the Vista has not managed to capture the fancy of the Indian consumer as Tata Motors would have hoped.

As a result, we learnt from our sources and reading AutoX magazine that Tata Motors has started work on an Indica Vista facelift model. SRK envisioned the Indica Vista facelift on the first week of June with a Tata Manzaish front end with double barrel headlamps and a chrome grill.

Little did we know that Tata Motors was also thinking on the same lines.

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One of the fastest growing auto magazine in India, AutoX carries a report in the latest edition on Tata Motors working on the Indica Vista facelift for a Diwali launch. A high-power petrol variant (1.4-liter generating 90hp) was introduced last year but ever since the Vista has stayed away from the spotlight.

The more expensive Manza and Aria have been topics of intense discussions here on the web. 2011 is the year of Etios, Brio, Swift and to some extent the strong-selling Figo so no real reason to bring up the Vista.

The Vista is no doubt a huge step forward compared to the original, but the segment is flooding with new cars almost every month. It’s a segment taking no prisoners. The Vista has been around for three years now and a cosmetic revision is just what the doctor ordered.

Shoeb’s illustrated a dark blue Vista with the Manza’ front-end and alloy wheels

AutoX says there will be a set of far-reaching headlamps like the double-barrel lamps seen on the Manza. The front-end will be treated with generous amounts of chrome, with new tail lamps. This will keep it going until early 2013 or so when the replacement model is expected.

In an earlier blog post, we suggested Tata Motors to look at LED lamps, partial re-skinning and experiment with colors for the Vista refresh, but that won’t happen. Instead we get a Vista that is similar to the Manza. We hope Tata puts back the speedometer to it rightful place and installs a dual horn. That’s not asking too much, or is it?

BSMotoring has carried an interesting story talking about new models from Tata Motors during this financial year. An important model reported is the Indica Vista facelift as the company’ not been among the volumes in a segment that’s loaned a new face to Ford, Volkswagen and Nissan operating with one hatchback.

Tata has an incredibly large number of variants on the Indica platform and the Vista has variants for economy as well as performance-seeking customers. Be it Indica or Indigo, the formula for Tata Motors has been to offer something for everyone.

The Vista (the Indica prefix has diminished over the years) introduced in August 2008 has seen two fast-selling anniversary edition models, one not-very-fast-selling 90hp variant and four engines in all (SAFIRE90, SAFIRE65, Quadrajet and TDi for BS3 cities). In 2012, Tata could give it a much-needed cosmetic overhaul as a number of cars like Etios Liva, Brio, Renault hatchback are going to join the ranks.

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