Hex Mix

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That for Tata’s Newest

- Raunak Ajinkya

Getting out of your comfort zone isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s what people tell you to do to ‘grow’ and ‘achieve’ things you didn’t think were possible. It’s also something people might attempt once you’ve done something right on a smaller scale and are suitably confident that you can kick things up a notch or five. And so goes Tata’s story in India. It’s like that child who’s desperate to be taken seriously but keeps getting spotted with a giant lollipop in his mouth and a hat on backwards that reads ‘gawS’.

But Tata’s trying. It honestly is, and I believe it’s tried hard enough with the Hexa to allow people to change its perception of being a budget carmaker. What Tata is trying to do with the Hexa is aim for two giant targets, one being the scruffy overachiever from Mahindra and the other being a complete overhaul of its image. It’s got its tasks cut out but there’s plenty of reasons to believe that it can achieve one, if not both, of the targets.

The Hexa starts off with a bit of familiarity. It’s based on the Aria (remember that house on wheels?) and that means a ladder chassis, and apart from a bit of familiarity to the Aria in terms of its profile, the Hexa’s been re-done completely, and it looks plenty smart, if you ask me. It’s butch and imposing and gets people’s attention pretty easily, which is what you’d want from a car of this size and category. I’m refraining from categorising the Hexa because when we asked the Tata guys what they intended it to be, all they said was ‘Whatever you want it to be’. Okay, then.