Next Generation Tata Sumo: What It Could Look Like
The Tata Sierra has made a glorious return to the Indian market. It has become a new (Indian) case study for doing the resurrection of an iconic nameplate right. It has also sparked anticipations (read: calls) for the return of the Sumo, another legendary nameplate in India’s automotive history. Digital artists have already started imagining what an all-new Sumo would look like. One such render is now gaining traction on social media.
These images were shared on Instagram by Babu Antony, a content creator based in the automotive niche. The set consists of five pictures showing different views of the SUV- front, side, rear, front three-quarters, and rear three-quarters. The vehicle in these pictures looks like an evolution of the original Sumo. Unlike many other renders, this feels more realistic and more in line with Tata’s modern design ethos.
The original Sumo Victa was used as the base for this generation. Some styling cues were also borrowed from the Sumo Grande that came out in 2008.
When viewed from the front, it invokes memories of the Victa. The bonnet design and front windshield remain almost identical. The front bumper is new and comes finished in body colour. It even has a Silver-coloured skid plate, fog lamp housing (fog lamps are not visible though) and an air dam.
The Victa had a rectangular front grille with rounded lower edges. This render, however, has a hexagonal grille which gels well with the headlamp design. It is adorned by a Chrome strip at the top. The headlamps themselves are a lot slimmer now. They get integrated LED DRLs as well.
The vehicle in these pictures also has bigger alloy wheels than the original Sumo Victa. The side view also shows a stronger focus on aerodynamics and cleaner panels. The cladding on wheel arches is finished in body colour. Our favourite part of this design is the large rear quarter glass. It looks nice and goes easy on the eyes. A couple of neatly-drawn character lines can be seen on the profile.
At the rear, this render retains the tailgate-mounted spare-wheel design of the earlier Sumos. The Victa had, in fact, featured an underbody placement, in hopes of ‘tidying up the design’. Here, the spare-wheel gets a fibre cover with a Tata logo, and looks good. The tailgate here, opens sideways and comes with a rear defogger and high-mount stop lamp.
The tail lamps are slim and seem to be ‘connected by an LED light bar’- a treatment that is seen on the new Sierra. The spare-wheel, however, hides a portion of this setup. The rear bumper looks sporty with an integrated skid plate and four exhaust tips (obviously not all of them would be functional). A reflector/rear fog lamp is also seen on the bumper. There’s even a roof-mounted spoiler to complete the looks.
All in all, this render is interesting and has a good level of realism to it. We spoke to Babu about this design and the thoughts/ideas that fueled it. He said he wanted the render to be as realistic and true to the original as possible, even when looking like a modern evolution of it. He was particular about keeping its butch SUV DNA alive instead of making the design lean toward ‘soft-roader’ side as seen in many modern Tata products.
Well, we had this question too. On the sidelines of the Sierra’s launch, we asked Martin Uhlarik, Vice President, Head of Design, Tata Motors, the same. His had a ‘rather diplomatic’ response. Uhlarik said that he’s been asked this question multiple times, and says that the ‘Sumo’ is another nameplate that gets a lot of people excited for what it stood for and what it represented. He said that the team at Tata Motors is ‘looking at it’. ‘We’re thinking about it. But, that’s not a yes or a no’- he said.
We have a feeling that Tata Motors could come up with such a product in the future. It won't be anytime soon.