When Tata Indica was rebadged as Rover
While rebadging has become a common phenomena today, back in 2003, it was Tata Indica that graced in the British market under the Rover badge.
More recently, rebadging has become a very common sight. Renault have often rebadged Nissan cars like Micra, and Sunny in India, which became Pulse and Scala, while Renault Duster was rebadged as Nissan Terrano. Even Maruti Suzuki and Toyota have rebadged each other’s cars, which have shown decent success in both brand logos.
However, much before all of this, quietly in the British market, the Tata Indica had a brief stint wearing the British manufacturer Rover’s badge as. The Indica was launched in 1998 as Tata’s first passenger hatchback and the country’s first diesel hatchback. Coming at a time when the hatchback market was booming and, in fact, car sales were on the rise, the hatchback was a success without a doubt.
Rover rebadged the Tata Indica
In 2003, the Indica was marketed by the former British manufacturer MG Rover under the Rover marque. Named Rover CityRover got just one drivetrain, which was a Peugeot-derived 1.4-litre, four-cylinder engine that produced 85 bhp and went from 0-100 kph in 11.9 seconds and had a top speed of 160 kph.
Tata manufactured the CityRover at their facility in Pune, India. For the British market, the alterations included new bumpers, the Rover badge grille, 14-inch wheels and even new suspension settings. The high driving position and the large windows offered good visibility to the drivers. The high-mounted taillamps offered others good visibility of the car as well. The doors even got anti-intrusion bars, child locks and the lot.
The steering column was collapsible, with the driver's side getting airbags as standard, with the passenger airbag offered on the top trim, while the rest got it as an option.
It wasn’t able to replicate the success in the British market with the production ending in April 2005, along with the rest of the MG Rover range. The performance was a key issue, and in the competition, it had the peppy engines and impressive looks of the European hatchbacks, but it couldn’t find its feet. Further, it lacked quality, poor road handling, and the pricing was a bit too much as Rover were already paying Tata £3,000. Pricing it at £6,495, it wasn’t budget-friendly at all.
Indica, after many facelifts and powertrains, was eventually discontinued by Tata as well in 2018, with Tata Tiago being seen as the successor from the company.