Tata Sierra was one of first made in India SUVs ever sold in the country. Tata Sierra a very unique SUV that was way ahead of its time. It was a three door SUV with a huge glass area for the rear passengers. The SUV was based on Tata’s popular Tata-mobile pickup truck. The Sierra as mentioned above was way ahead of its time. It offered features like power windows, AC, power steering and much more. India as a car market was not ready for three-door SUV as it is highly impractical. For the this reason and some more, Tata Sierra was discontinued from the market in 2003. A similar fate awaited Tata Estate as well. Here we have a video that shows Tata Sierra, Estate and Sumo being used in Prime Minister’s Convoy in 1995 Republic day parade.

The video has been uploaded by Bichu N.S on his YouTube channel. The video basically says that, it is a tribute to the Tata Motors. The video is a trimmed version of Republic Day Parade that was Telecasted on Doordarshan in 1995. The video shows convoy of Maruti Gypsy and Hindustan Ambassadors sedan passing through Rajpath.

Maruti Gypsy was initially used by the security forces and the politicians and other government deligates used Hindustan Ambassador. It was only after the discontinuation of Hindustan Ambassador, politicians and other officials started using vehicles from other brands. After a couple of convoys had passed the Rajpath, a convoy consisting on Tata Sumo, Tata Sierra and Hindustan Ambassador enter the Rajpath.

The Tata Sierra is specially used by the, then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. The convoy slowly moves towards Amar Jawan Jyoti. Special Protection Group or SPG officers can be seen on Tata Sumo. They take care of the Prime Minister and their immediate families anywhere in the world. The whole convoy moves towards the Amar Jawan Jyoti and suddenly the both Ambassador go different way and Tata Sumo on which SPG commandos where standing creates a cover for Prime Minister’s Tata Sierra and as soon as PM’s Sierra stops, an SPG commando opens the rear door and comes out and inspects the surrounding before opening the door.

Former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao can be seen coming out from the back seat of Sierra. As mentioned above, Sierra was not a practical SUV and the PM had to come out from the co-passenger side door as it is a three door SUV. Tata Sierra was powered by a Peugeot sourced, 2.0 litre, four cylinder diesel engine that generated 63 Bhp. In 1997, the Tata added a turbocharger and the power figures went up to 90 Bhp. It was available with a 5-speed manual gearbox only.

Last year at the Auto Expo, Tata Motors revealed a brand new Sierra concept. The concept actually grabbed a lot of attention and is an evidence on how much people love it. The manufacturer said that they currently have no plans to bring back this model into production. Tata is currently working on HBX which is a micro SUV and is expected to be launched in the market some time later this year.