This Was India's First Pickup Truck, Launched In The 80s

Before the inception of Tata Motors and its passenger cars in the Indian market, the company´s sole footprint in the automotive sector was the production of commercial vehicles. Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. Ltd or Telco was in the business of producing high-quality commercial vehicles including India´s first light commercial vehicle or pickup truck, the Tata Telcoline.

In fact, the design for Tata Sierra is supposed to be derived from  the Tata Telcoline. So, are you ready to learn all about this first pickup truck from Tata? Let's get going!

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1988: Tata Telcoline First Launched

Initially known as the Tatamobile 206 pickup in India, the Telcoline was launched in 1988 with 2.0 litre Peugeot XD88 diesel engine under the hood. Tata had acquired the license for this from Peugeot. The Telocline was built on a ladder-type cranked frame with welded cross members and box section extended members. The whole idea was to come up with something rugged with great load carrying capacity even though it was a light commercial vehicle.

Between 1988-1989, Tata sold about 61,691 models of the Telcoline. Later in 1994, Tata reintroduced this model with a facelift. This model was fitted with a Tata-made stroked engine with the same displacement as the old XD88. This facelift also included revised headlights. Tata even introduced a 4WD version of this pickup truck with higher ground clearance.

The truck was fairly popular and Tata began exporting it in 1994 to South Africa and parts of Europe.

Again in 2002, Tata gave the Telcoline another major facelift. New front and rear bumpers, bonnet, and front grille housing the new Tata logo was a part of the facelifted Tata Telcoline.  This mid-size pickup truck made waves worldwide with its stellar performance and specifications.

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Tata Telcoline Engine Specifications

As mentioned earlier, the Telcoline came with licensed 2.0 Peugeot XD88 diesel engine with a top speed of 104 km/l and a gradeability of 26%. The fuel tank had an ample capacity of 60 litres that came in handy on long trips. On top of that, it had a 191mm of ground clearance that allows the pickup truck to be more effective on the roads. This truck had drum brakes for the rear and disc brakes at the front.

As for the suspension systems, this pickup truck packed double wishbone type coil springs at the front with a semi-elliptical leaf spring. And yes, both the ends had anti-roll bars.

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Although the Tata Telcoline was discontinued, it didn´t disappear altogether. It was upgraded to Tata Xenon in 2006 and even the famous Tata Sierra is loosely based upon it. What are your views on this pickup truck from Tata?