Friday, April 06, 2018

Trucks: TATA with DRB-HICOM Launches the TATA Super Ace One Ton Mini-Truck in Malaysia

TATA Motors launched the Tata Super Ace 1 ton mini truck yesterday at the Setia City Convention Centre at an event that is deemed to mark an even greater working relationship between Tata Motors and DRB-Hicom, its authorised distributor in Malaysia. The Tata Super Ace will be marketed and sold by DRB-HICOM Commercial Vehicles Sdn Bhd and will cost RM46,990 onwards making it one of the most affordable and robust mini trucks in the market.



The Tata Super Ace is a 1 ton mini truck built for inter-city and intra-city transport. It is unique in Malaysia because it is powered by a diesel engine whereas most of the trucks in this segment are small capacity petrol engine. The Super Ace has a Euro 2 grade 1.4liter (1,405cc) diesel engine which makes 70hp and 135Nm torque at a low 2,500rpm making it suitable for lugging around cargo yet still have the frugality of a diesel powered engine. It channels its power to the rear wheels via a 5 speed manual gearbox.


It could also be more reliable in the long run due to the durability of a normally aspirated diesel engine when compared to another similarly sized petrol powered engine due to its usually lazy and low revving nature. When power is generated at lower rpm, it basically means that there is less strain on an engine. You could say that a small truck running a 1.5 liter engine would make 90hp and 130Nm torque but both torque and horsepower would come in at a higher engine rpm. Usually small powered petrol engines make power at around the 3,500-5,000rpm mark compared to the more relaxed engine speeds of a similar sized diesel.

Anyway, the Tata Super Ace has a been designed by Tata to be the preferred choice for last-mile transportation. The Super Ace series of trucks have sold over 1,000,000 units since it first came out in 2005. Having being sold in about 28 countries globally from Africa, South Asia (namely India, the country where Tata originates from) and countries in the ASEAN region, the Super Ace can be fully customised for various small scale businesses. It can be used as a food truck (which seems to be the craze nowadays in Malaysia), a cargo carrier for food stuffs, FMCG and a variety of materials if you intend to use it for construction. 


The Tata Super Ace was launched at an event which was officiated by the High Commissioner of India to Malaysia, His Excellency, Shri Mridul Kumar and attended by Mr. Rudrarup Maitra, Head of International Business, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit Tata Motors as well as Dato' Abdul Harith bin Abdullah, CEO, Automotive Distribution, Defence and Manufacturing & Engineering, DRB-HICOM. The Super Ace was launched with the Tata Ultra 814 and 1014 variants of intermediate light duty truck.

With the launch of the Tata Super Ace, Tata Motors and DHCV aim to push into the new small businesses market especially for those that seek to venture on their own. With a reasonable price tag and robust design as well as mechanical bits, the Super Ace should be a welcome option for many. They even displayed the Super Ace with many variants from a mini-tipper truck, food truck and cargo carrying variants at the event.

The fully imported Tata Super Ace will be priced from RM46,990 onwards depending on the body type one chooses. Not much to say about the interior in that it looks very functional and robust enough for business owners who would not have the luxury of time to be gentle to it. Of course, it comes with a 3 year or 100,000km which ever comes first warranty for peace of mind.










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