Punch enters a crowed segment of well reputed offerings, the majority from its Indian homeland. Images: Charl Bosch Tata is Indian’s largest domestically founded automotive marque when you factor out the Japanese origins of its biggest automotive brand, Maruti Suzuki. Despite this, its smallest crossover, the Punch, became the best-selling nameplate last year with reported sales of over 200 000 units, and ahead of traditional Maruti favourites such as the Swift, Brezza and DZire.
Completely different is the situation in South Africa where, unlike Suzuki, Tata re-entered the local market earlier this year after a decade long hiatus. Tasked with not only rebuilding itself, but also dispelling memories of past models such as the Indigo, Indica and Bolt, the brand’s return couldn’t have come at a worse time, as compared to a decade ago, it faces direct competition from various Chinese brands. A situation not doing Tata any favours, the debut of the Punch as one of four initial models isn’t off to the best of starts, either, when also factoring in established legacy brand products it competes against.
Positioned in Tata’s line-up between the Tiago hatch and Cruvv crossover, these predominantly include other Indian-grown offerings such as the Renault Kiger and Nissan Magnite, the Kia Sonet, Hyundai Exter, Mahindra XUV 3X0 and Citroën C3.Models that have all built up a solid reputation since landing on local soil, the arrival of the Punch for the weeklong stay proved honest and simple, but with lots still to be proven, regardless of its home market success. Unlike Road Test Editor Mark Jones, who only drove the flagship Creative+ at the local launch in September, the test unit, the Adventure+ S, didn’t have the dreaded automated manual transmission (AMT) but rather the five-speed manual. The only other derivative bar the base Adventure to offer the manual as both the Creative+ and mid-spec Accomplished+ are equipped with the AMT from the start, the second tier from the bottom Adventure+ S is off to a relatively good start on first glance.Priced at a very competitive R268 900, the Punch conforms to India’s sub-four metre regulations, albeit with an appearance resembling that of the Renault Kwid when viewed from the rear and in side.
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Not updated or lightly revised since going on-sale in India four years ago, the Adventure+ S only comes with painted 15-inch steel wheels, but still presents well for its age thanks to the slim headlights, grille and standard dual-tone roof. Appearing suitability rugged with not only the steelies, but also cladding around the wheel arches and on the bumper, the Punch’s rear facia continues the round theme, with unique touches such as the Y-shaped light clusters and a wraparound window.
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