After Maruti S-Presso, Tata Motors Roasts WagonR to Promote Tiago

Earlier this month, three cars currently on sale in the country recived a lot of flak for poor performnce at Global NCAP. While the Kia Seltos, the most sophisticated of the trio, could bag just 3-stars from the independent testing organiztion, the Hyundai Grand i10 Nios and Maruti S-Presso posted a score of 2-stars and 0-star, respectively. Soon, thereafter, Tata Motors came up with a Tweet that indirectly took a jibe at the low safety rating of the entry-level SUV-style hatchback from the country's largest carmaker. Well, the homegrown carmaker is at it again, this time roasting the WagonR, which could score only 2-stars at the NCAP test bed. 

Taking a dig at the Maruti WagonR, an image posted on the Facebook page of Tata Motors shows a broken wagon, supported by a text that reads - 'Safety is 'two' important to be ignored. Be smart before someone overturns your caRt.Choose Tiago, the safest car in the segment, rated 4 stars by GNCAP.' In order to refrain from any sort of legal action that might be a result of a direct attact, the image contains the text 'Wagone' instead 'WagonR', while the image caption has the letter 'R' of the word 'cart' capitalized. It must be noted here that Global NCAP chose the entry-level 1.0 LXi variant of the WagonR for testing purposes.

The base-level version of the tallboy comes only with a driver-side airbag. It scored 6.93 points out of 17 for adult occupant protection, and 16.33 points out of 49 for child occupant protection. As per the test body, the WagonR has an unstable structure ‘not capable of withstanding further loadings’.

Meanwhile, the Tata Tiago has scored 4-stars from NCAP. Moreover, most other cars in the company's lineup have achieved respectable scores from NCAP. No wonder, then, that the company is working overtime to publicize the high safety ratings of its models. On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki has time and again asserted that all its cars meet the stringent crash safety norms set by the Indian regulations. Furthermore, it has even downplayed the low NCAP score by issuing a statement that reads - 'Safety is a critical issue and is therefore closely regulated by governments around the world as they are responsible for the safety of the people in their countries. It cannot be left to the opinion of any self-proclaimed party.'