Tata Tigor Vs Chevrolet Beat Essentia: The Entry-Level Sub-4m Sedans

The Tata Tigor will soon have a direct rival, the Chevrolet Beat Essentia, which will be priced similarly.

Tata has just launched the spiritual successor to the Indigo CS, the Tigor, which sits below the Zest in its line-up. The Tata Tigor undercuts each and every compact sedan in the country and presently, it doesn’t have any direct rival. But not for long! Chevrolet will launch the Essentia sub-4m sedan based on the heavily updated 2017 Beat this year. Both these products were showcased at the 2016 Indian Auto Expo. Though Chevrolet has not revealed much about the Beat Essentia at the Auto Expo, the upcoming Beat duo are likely to carry forward the same set of powertrains as the outgoing hatch. Let us put these two compact sedans against each other as the Essentia is expected to be priced in the same range as the Tigor.

Design

Without a doubt, Tata has executed the integration of a boot into the Tiago’s silhouette tastefully with the Tigor. It is easily one of the best looking compact sedans out there, with relatively proportionate appearance, courtesy its coupe-ish roofline. Read our detailed report on the design of the Tigor here: Design Decode: Tata Tigor.

The Beat Essentia isn’t an odd-looking offering either. It is based on the upcoming 2017 Beat, which, in fact, is carved on the same platform as the outgoing hatchback, and it shares several body panels as well. Since these compact sedans are similar to their hatchback counterpart until the B-pillar, it was easy for Chevrolet to integrate a boot in restricted length considering this platform’s relatively shorter footprints. All in all, both the sedans score well in terms of looks, but the Tigor has an edge due to its flamboyant coupe-ish profile.

Engine

The Beat Essentia will borrow its powertrain options from the 2017 Beat, which is expected to carry forward the current set of engines. The petrol will be a 1.2-litre, four-cylinder motor (77.9PS/106.5Nm), while the diesel will be a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder unit (57.1PS/142.5Nm); both the engines will be mated to a standard five-speed manual.

Speaking of the Tigor, on paper, the Tata excels with its powerful set of engines as opposed to the Chevrolet. The petrol Tigor packs a 1.2-litre, three-cylinder engine (85PS/114Nm), while the diesel version is powered by a three-cylinder, 1.05-litre oil burner (70PS/140Nm). The Tigor also comes standard with a five-speed manual. Both the sedan are likely to get an AMT (automated manual transmission) at a later stage, especially the Tigor, if not the Essentia.

Features and Safety Options

(In Picture: Tata ConnectNext)

Like the Tiago, the Tigor is a feature-loaded vehicle as well since both the cars share their features. The Tigor gets over-the-top features such as dual-barrel projector headlamps, tail lamps with LED graphics, width-spanning high-mounted LED stop lamp, 15-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels (only with the petrol), 8-speaker system, and others. The Beat Essentia in contrast doesn’t offer all these, save for the 15-inch wheels that it might get.

(In Picture: Chevrolet Beat Essentia)

In terms of the infotainment system, the Beat Essentia’s latest Chevrolet MyLink unit (probably 6.0-inch) will outperform Tata’s swanky 5.0-inch Harman-powered ConnectNext unit with several app support for smartphone integration. The Essentia's MyLink supports both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (revealed at the Auto Expo), which are sorely missing in the Tata’s ConnectNext unit, which is also present in its flagship product – the Hexa.

As for the safety features, like the Tigor, the Beat Essentia is expected to offer dual front airbags along with ABS and EBD. It remains to be seen whether these features will be standard, which is not the case with the Tata, in the upcoming Chevrolet or not.

Recommended Read: Tata Tigor - Is It Priced Right?

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