What is the Punchline?

Tata take a swing at a new but lu segment with the Punch. We drove it t they have hit the spot or missed the mark.

-  Joshua Varghese

SOME SAY THAT FORTUNE FAVOURS the bold. The Tata Punch could become a great example of that. What began as the HBX concept car has become the Punch SUV. No, mini SUV... no, micro SUV.

Let me clear that up. The Punch is a sub-four-metre (3.8-metre) car and it is placed in a segment below the Nexon. This little SUV has driven itself into a space where it has no direct rivals. So, when the competition does arrive, they will be sizing up their cars to handle the swing and reach of the Punch. To check out the car's potential, we drove it primarily in an urban environment with some highway time and a stint off the road as well.

Head on, the Tata Punch retains all the familiar elements of the Tata SUV family. To be precise, it has all the characteristics of an SUV without looking overly functional. The upper half of the car can be interpreted as a contemporary design for an urban runabout while the lower half (especially the generous amount of cladding and square wheel-aches) flexes the car's offroad potential. My favourite bit about the Tata Punch's design is how its lines and curves are in proportion to the rest of the bodywork. It has a confident stance and similar road presence which is amplified by a tail section that cannot be confused for anything else on sale in India today.

All the doors open out at 90 degrees to the chassis, making for easy ingress and egress. This welcome with wide open arms, I mean doors, is met by a cabin that is clearly built to be more functional than opulent. There is no fancy material here to make you feel special, but I am glad to report that none of it felt low-quality either. While the cabin does not use a lot of soft plastic, the finish is good and it hints at robustness and longevity.