'25 year ago today...': Ratan Tata shares how Indica gave birth to India’s indigenous car industry

Industrialist, business tycoon, and philanthropist Ratan Tata recently shared a picture of him posing with a Tata Indica car on Instagram. With the picture, the former Chairman of the Tata Group celebrated 25 years of the launch of India's first indigenously built car. The hatchback from Tata Motors (then called Telco) was launched in India in 1998. Sharing the information, he called Tata Indica the birth of India's indigenous car industry while also giving words to his love for the car.

In his post, Ratan Tata wrote, "25 years ago, the launching of the Tata Indica was the birth of India’s indigenous passenger car industry. It brings back fond memories and has a special place in my heart for me."

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The Tata Indica, launched in 1998, became the pioneer of the Indian car industry. It was a model that paved the way for multiple cars that the company launched in the coming future. However, the initial models of the car were surrounded by multiple problems rooted in the manufacturing process. At the time, the company was experienced with making heavy motor vehicles like buses and trucks.

After implementing multiple changes, Telco ended up relaunching the car as Indica V2 (Version 2.0). This iteration of the car changed the future of the car by resolving major quality and reliability issues. With these changes, the car created history with its impressive run in the Indian market that continued for many years and completely changed the numbers on the sales chart.

The sales numbers were also supplemented by the price of the car, which offered a rather good-looking contemporary car with European vibes. Ratan Tata, in a statement to Business Standard, once said, "It would have the size of the Maruti Zen, the internal dimensions of an Ambassador and come at the price of a Maruti 800 with the running cost of a diesel," while talking about the Indica.