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-   -   TATA Motors Ace Truck-Signs of the future? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commercial-vehicles/5701-tata-motors-ace-truck-signs-future.html)

Hi Guys

Dont know if many of you noticed the new 4 wheeled mini-truck launched by Tata recently. Its kind of like the Minidor / Piaggio Ape, except that it has four wheels and is therefore more stable.

Of particular interest is its 2 cylinder diesel engine, which is supposedly an Indica engine cut into two. Despite the tiny engine, I could see a few of them zipping along the narrow streets of Cochin at a fair clip.

Could this be one of the engines that Tata could consider for his Rs.1 Lakh car? It does sound very busy, though - not sure how it could find application in a car.

In related news I believe Bajaj Auto as well as Piaggio are considering similar 'quadricycles', essentially 4-wheeling their current 3 wheelers...I hope this is true, as it would lead to safer roads without the three-wheelers who currently do 360 degree turns in the blink of an eye.

Incidentally the Tata Ace seems to have a fairly decent payload as well - I saw it carry stuff that could probably fill up the loading bay of a Mahindra Maxx.

Yeah, Steeroid.

I was in Pune on Saturday / Sunday and happened to see one of those little thingies zipping on NH4. This particular vehicle had only a temporary registration sticker. Probably TATA was doing road tests before they finally put it up for sale. Though I overtook it quiet comfortably, I was surprised at its performance considering the fact that it has only a two-cylinder DI engine. It is surprisingly low for a truck and looks quiet cute, actually!

I saw one of these today myself, a white example pootling around the inner city. Tata would do well to launch a CNG version as soon as possible to keep the environment clean too.

Read about the "truck" - nd read about the rumour that tata would use the chassis for developing the 1 lac car ! how far this is true time will tell....but the trucks can carry some mean load and looks tolerable too.

Saw this truck the other day and I must say that I liked the concept of putting another wheel on a vehicle similar to a Rickshaw for better balance and to some extent little more load carrying capacity. By putting the 2 Cylinder engine cut from the Indicas powerplant, Tata can save quite a bit on the cost and it definatly will affect the showroom price too. These trucks were gonna be named as "CUB" right??

Its officially on sale in Kerala since the beginning of May.

They're sold as TATA ACE (hence the title)

Looks really good.

As per last weeks Bussiness Standard TATA ACE outsold all others by miles in that category

I think they are pretty cool - decent driver comfort and the ones on the road are driven in a civilized fashion - no brute Tempo power but enough to "make progress". Three wheelers have terrible diesel engines and struggle all the time in my opinion

That engine is way too noisy. Like those Diesel 3 wheeler engines that make a friggin racket (but don't really go anywhere quick). As these are mainly for use within city limits, I feel they should be made to meet the same noise levels as set for pasenger vehicles.

On the plus side though is the cabin and extra safety and payload that comes with the extra wheel.

By launching the ACE, Tatas are hoping to imitate the success of a Chinese vehicle -I forgot its name- of similar size and payload. The vehicle is a big hit - 2 million sold!- in China and is being considered as one of the factors that changed the face of China.

*ROTFLMAO* rl: Very true, Rtech. But, I have started noticing lot of them on roads of Pune.

It doesnt make as much noise as the Piaggio/Mahindra/Tempo 3 wheelers, and its much faster - struggles up slopes, though. I've driven both the Ace and the Piaggio 3 wheeler...

@steer, I was talking of those diesel 3 wheelers and not ACE :-)