Forgotten vans of India: Force Tempo Matador to Mahindra Voyager

India’s automobile history goes back to the days of the Hindustan Ambassador that is the first vehicle to be manufactured in India. While many of us remember cars like Premier Padmini and Standard Herald, due to the population boom in the country, vans were quite popular too. Vans are generally used to move goods or people and vans of different shapes and sizes were sold in India. Many of them we remember like the Maruti Suzuki Omni but there are quite a few that have disappeared from the roads and from our memories.

Force Tempo Matador

The Matador van used to commonly make appearances during family get-togethers and picnics but they were also used widely by the schools for the children. The 10-seater Matador van was manufactured by Force Motors in India under the license from Tempo, Germany. There were pick-up as well as the van variants of the Matador.

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The Matador diesel became very popular and saw a large demand in the market, especially by the Hindustan Ambassador owners, who wanted a fuel-efficient engine. Force Motors used a 1.8-litre diesel engine that generates a maximum power of 50 Bhp in the F305 variant. A four-speed all-synchromesh manual transmission.

Standard 20

Standard 20 was another popular people-mover that became quite popular in the Southern part of the country. Standard 20 was based on the Leyland 20 van and was quite a popular choice as tourist cab and school buses. Standard 20 came powered by a 2.2-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine that churns out a maximum power of about 60 Bhp. It also came with a six-speed gearbox. The van offered a 10-speed configuration, with all the rows facing towards the front.

Mahindra FC

Mahindra Forward Control or FC was also a popular choice in the Indian market. It was a licenced Jeep FC that Mahindra manufactured in India by using Jeep’s design. It came with a rear-wheel-drive layout and also an optional four-wheel-drive system too. Mahindra worked on the FC to make it bigger in size and increase the capacity of seats from 10 to 16 over the years. The FC came with a 2.5-litre diesel engine and there was a choice of 2.1-litre diesel as well.

Mahindra Voyager

The Mahindra Voyager came to the Indian market in the late 1990s. The Voyager was essentially Mitsubishi LS300 van underneath that Mahindra rebadged and sold in India. However, the market did not respond very well to the van as it was quite futuristic and expensive. It came with a 2.5-litre turbocharged diesel engine.

Maruti Suzuki Versa

The Maruti Suzuki Versa was launched for the customers of Omni who wanted to upgrade to a bigger vehicle. Maruti Suzuki hoped to change the face of the MPVs in the Indian market with the launch of the Versa, which is claimed to be the best-looking MPV in those days. However, Versa failed to attract customers and finally, Maruti Suzuki launched the low-cost Eeco replaced the Versa and it is still doing well in the market.

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