Having taken the accolade of India’s best-selling new vehicle of 2024, Tata has given the now almost five-year old Punch its first update, which also includes the first-time availability of a turbocharged engine.
New outside
Styled to resemble the step-up Curvv, the Punch’s new external additions consist of a new front bumper, air intakes and faux skidplate, a restyled grille and daytime running lights, new LED headlight clusters and first-time dual-tone alloy wheels up to 16-winches.
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At the rear, Tata has refreshed the bumper and included the same imitation skidplate as the front, while also redesigning the taillight clusters and including a full-width LED light bar between.
Smarter inside
Inside, the changes are more minimal and sees the retention of the eight and 10.25-inch infotainment displays.
New is the steering wheel, complete with the full-width gloss black logo panel, a digital climate control panel on higher-end trim grades, an illuminated Tata badge on the steering wheel itself, a seven-inch digital instrument cluster and a new fabric material option.
Additional new items on the specification sheet are a minimum of six airbags, an eight-speaker sound system, 360-degree camera system and an improved wireless smartphone charger.
Long overdue turbo Punch
Available in eight trim levels in India; Smart, Pure, Pure+, Pure+ S, Adventure, Adventure S, Accomplished and Accomplished+ S, the main highlights involves the turbocharged 1.2-litre Revotron petrol engine.
Taken from the Curvv, the iTurbo-badged unit produces the same 88kW/170Nm, and is mated, for the time being, solely to a six-speed manual gearbox.
Retained is the normally aspirated unit outputting 65kW/118Nm and the compressed natural gas (CNG) version outputting between 54kW/103Nm and 65kW/115Nm depending on the fuel source.
Transmissions for the latter pair are either a five-speed manual or a five-speed automated manual (AMT).
Not for South Africa yet
Now available, pricing starts at Rs 559 000 (R101 373) for the normally aspirated Smart and ends at Rs 1 054 000 (R191 140) for the CNG-powered Accomplished+ S AMT.
Prices for the turbo ranges from Rs 829 000 to Rs 979 000 (R150 337-R177 539), with only the Adventure and Accomplished+ S having access to the forced assisted unit.
As the Punch only launched in South Africa towards the end of last year as part of Tata’s market re-entry, only expect the updated model to arrive at a later stage should approval be given.
At present, the local Punch range spans five models and four trim grades; Adventure, Adventure+ S, Accomplished+ and Creative+, all powered by the normally aspirated 1.2 and priced from R244 900 to R339 900.
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