The Tigor from Tata Motors is the newest addition to the compact sedan troupe which at present has more than half a dozen aspirants vying for your attention.
A Tiago with a larger boot, the Tigor is based on a platform used by the former, which has been very well received in the market since launch last year.
Not many know but Tata Motors was the inventor of the sub-4 metre sedan with Indigo CS in 2008. However, rival Maruti Suzuki made most of the opportunity with the Swift Dzire capturing 58 percent share of the segment.
The five-seater, five-door, Tigor is up against seven models — including two from Tata Motors — all of which are priced below Rs 5.55 lakh.
Tata Tigor is priced at around Rs 4.7 lakh.
But is the Tigor worth your money?
On a like-to-like comparison where Tigor stands out is the boot space. With a massive 419 litres Tigor’s boot is 33 percent bigger than the segment leader Dzire (316 litres) and 3 percent more than the next best Hyundai Xcent (407 litres).
But that is where the advantage gets limited for the new Tata product. Despite being the heaviest car in its class at around 1074 kgs, the Tigor is not the most powerful.
With a 1.2 litre, 3 cylinder petrol engine the Tigor generates peak power of 85 bhp which is slightly higher than the Dzire but lower than the Honda Amaze and Ford Figo Aspire. Tigor’s fuel tank capacity at 35 litres is also the smallest in this segment class.
The biggest advantage that Tigor has is its styling. Tata Motors designers have given the car a coupe-like styling allowing the boot to look as if it is well-integrated into the main body of the car instead of a last minute add-on.
The compact sedan segment clocks an average of 30,000 units a month on which 17,500 units comes from the Dzire alone. The Tiago sells about 5,500 units a month and Tata Motors would like to continue with the same figure for the Tigor.
The Tigor will be sold with the option of two engines – a 1.2 litre petrol engine and 1.05 litre diesel engine – which is also the smallest and least powerful in its class. The diesel Tiago achieves peak power of 70bhp significantly less than the most powerful Volkswagen Ameo at 110 bhp and slightly less than the Dzire at 75bhp.
Only the Dzire and Ameo get the option of automatic gearbox while there is still no news about Tata Motors planting an automated manual transmission in the Tigor though the same is offered in the Tiago.
Tata Motors has already experimented twice in this segment with the Zest and Indigo CS. While the Indigo CS is bought almost entirely by taxi operators in very limited numbers the Zest also started making its way to the commercial users after not many buyers from the personal category got enthused about the product.
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