A close look at the revolutionary Tata Ace – variants, features explained!

We explore the most popular compact truck in India! why it remains at the top even after 15 years? What makes it the first choice of buyers? Are you looking to buy a small truck? Read the details here.

Tata Motors' most promising product the Ace-compact truck, becomes synonymous with last-mile transportation in India. Ace become so successful for the CV makers that even after 15 years, it remains a market leader in the 2T mini-truck segment without virtually no competition.

Ace fondly knows as ‘Chhota Hathi’ among the transport community has employed millions of Indians. We take a closer look at the product explaining the variants, features and the nearest rivals to this product. Tata Motors has sold over 2.2 million units of Ace since its commercial launch in 2005, and yet stays at the top.  

Ace comes with a reasonable engine, superior all-around performance combined with higher mileage. To suit the variety of customer needs and applications, Ace comes with a sub-1-ton durable flatbed with HSD and FSD options.

After the last decade and a half, Tata Ace has grown into a multi-product family to cater to a plethora of needs in the sub-2-ton segment. While the product has now matured with far greater to offer to customers, Tata Motors has been successful in keeping the original characteristics that made this vehicle the most successful in India.  

Presently, the Tata Ace family consists of models:

Cargo:

Tata Ace Gold

Tata Ace XL

Tata Ace Mega

Tata Ace Mega XL

Tata Super Ace Mint

Tata Ace Zip

Tata Ace Zip XL

Special Applications:

Ace Hopper Tipper

Ace Box Tipper

Ace Suction Machine

Features and USP’s:

Capable Range of Engines:

Ace gets a contemporary and modern engine family including:

611cc Single-Cylinder, water-cooled engine (12.5bhp@3000rpm and 35.1Nm@1600-1800 rpm)

800cc Tata DICOR TCIC 2-cylinder engine (40bhp@3750rpm and 100Nm@1700-2000rpm)

702cc Tata IDI 2-Cylinder engine (16bhp@3200rpm and 39Nm@2000rpm)

Lowest Operating Cost:

Backed by a frugal engineer by Tata Motors in-house engineering team with reliability service, the Tata Ace offers the lowest maintenance costs in the segment. It is also among the most frugal in terms of fuel efficiency with an ARAI certified mileage of 21.5 kmpl (Tata Ace Gold). Then there is the best in class warranty of 2 years or 72000 kms (whichever is earlier).

Reliable and Rugged Aggregates:

The Tata Ace took the whole minitruck idea seriously since it offers a heavy-duty truck like Chassis Frame along with a proven Synchromesh Gearbox. That’s not all, to help ferry loads around worst of the conditions, it also gets a durable truck like Front & Rear Axle setup while the suspension is also a rugged front & rear leaf spring setup (Tata Ace Gold).

High on Comfort:

To enhance driver and co-driver comfort, the Tata Ace platform offers smartly designed doors with a wide opening angle for easy ingress and egress. There is a perfectly set 735 mm loading bed height that further aids convenient loading and unloading every time. Bigger 12-inch tyres that deal with potholes and other road undulations much better and offer a smooth ride. The ergonomic cabin offers an easy reach for the steering, while there are additions like digital clock & mobile charger, instrument cluster and provision for music system (tata Ace XL). Some variants of the Tata Ace family also offer power steering as standard, such as in Tata Ace Mega XL.

 Focus on Driver Safety:

Tata Motors has given special attention to providing the best possible safety net for its Tata Ace platform and as such you get the likes of Retractable seat belts for driver & co-passenger, Intrusion panels on front doors for side crash, Wider windscreen for excellent road vision, among others (Tata Ace Mega XL).

Higher profit per Trip:

The Tata Ace platform, just like all other Tata Commercial Vehicle products, offers great profitability that helps its owners in managing the bottom line. You get the best in class HP/Torque/Gradeability combination for carrying heavy loads with ease, where the likes of the Tata Ace Mega XL offer a staggering 30% gradeability. The platform also offers long loading lengths to handle bigger size loads even with its compact dimensions, like a great 8.2 feet long bed for the Tata Ace XL and Tata Ace Mega XL.

Major Competitors:

The Ace remains the market leader over the years, and now it has faced competition with rivals such as M&M, Ashok Leyland, Piaggio, and Maruti Suzuki as these OEMs are now eyeing a slice of this growing market. These include Mahindra Jeeto Range (rivals Ace Zip range), Ashok Leyland Dost range, Maruti Suzuki Super Carry, Piaggio Porter among others. Yet, Ace persists in holding the largest share of the market, making Tata Motors the definite leader.

Verdict

Despite several rivals in this highly popular and growing minitruck segment; Tata Ace remains the product of choice. This revolutionary product over the years has improved significantly, considering the changing nature of transportation and customer preference.

Super built quality, inherent ruggedness, higher warranty along with the widest service network across the country ensure that the customer is always served better. This is complemented with great fuel efficiency, excellent gradeability, and greater performance and productivity against its rivals. Tata Ace platform proves that it still is the king of the mini-truck market segment, way better than the nearest competition. An ideal, truly remarkable value for money, and the most suitable last-mile delivery trucks built for a number of applications!