Tata Estate

Tata Estate
A white Tata Estate in Goa, 1994.
Overview
Manufacturer	Tata Motors
Production	1992-2000
Body and chassis
Class	Station Wagon
Body style	5-door station wagon
Layout	Front Engine, Rear Wheel Drive
Powertrain
Engine	1.9 D (68 Hp) Diesel engine
Transmission	5-speed manual transmission
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,825 mm (111.2 in)
Length	4,625 mm (182.1 in)
Width	1,710 mm (67.3 in)
Height	1,610 mm (63.4 in)

The Tata Estate was a station wagon car produced by Tata Motors. Already a major player in the heavy vehicle segment, this was the company's first attempt at building a passenger car. The car was considered fairly advanced during its time and had many features which were not common among other Indian cars available at the same price range then. The car came with power windows, power steering and a tachometer. The car performed better than expected, but fell out of production due to its underpowered engine.

The Estate's exterior is based on Mercedes-Benz station wagons made at the time of conception,^[1] in particular to the T-series estate-type cars.^[2]

History

The Tata Estate was placed into production in 1992 until 2000, being available with a 5-speed manual transmission.^[3][4] This followed after the production of the Tata Sierra in 1991.^[5] It was initially plagued with problems due to high fuel consumption, faulty electrical systems and suspensions before they were eventually fixed in subsequent productions.^[6] Due to the poor demand, production of the car ended in 2000.^[7]

Variants

Tata Motors has mentioned that a bulletproof version of the Estate can be made for VIPs.^[6]

Specifications

The platform of the Estate was based on the Tata 207 pick-up truck, which saved the company around Rs. 10 crore in development costs.^[6]

Reception

Gaadi rated the Tata Estate as the second station wagon that should be placed back into production since it was the car that made Tata known publicly.^[8]

References

1. Sen, 2014.
2. "Indianrays - Automobile". Indianrays.
3. "Tata - Estate - 1.9 D (68 Hp) - Technical specifications, Fuel economy (consumption)". auto-data.net.
4. "Big mistakes that crashed Tata Motors' ambitious car dream". Rediff. 1 October 2014.
5. Abdul Hafiz Ibrahim (Follow me on Twitter @DopzTheLegend). "About Tata Motors (TML)". tatamotors.com.my.
6. "tata.com : Telco inside India's most exciting co.". tata.com.
7. "The reasons behind the failure of station wagons in India". CarTrade.
8. "Station Wagons that should come back to India". Gaadi.com.

Further reading

• Sen, Gautem. (2014). Million Cars for Billion People: The Story of India's 'Millionaire' Cars". Mumbai, India: Platinum Press. ISBN 978-93-84027-74-2