Tata Sierra, Estate & Sumo in India’s 1995 Republic Day Parade look majestic [Video]

SPG or Special Protection Group, which takes care of India’s most influential personalities like the Prime Minister and President, has recently stepped up the security. With an army of all imported vehicles, the motorcade looks very different from the ones in the yesteryears. This footage from the 1995 Republic Day parade shows the Prime Minister’s convoy with made-in-India cars like the Tata Sierra, Tata Estate and the Tata Sumo.

The video by Bichu N.S. shows a lot of made-in-India cars including the Maruti Gypsy and Hindustan Ambassador, which were not developed in India but were made in India through licensing.

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The footage shows the iconic Rajpath. Maruti Gypsy, which became the favourite vehicle of the security forces in India alongside the Hindustan Ambassador, which became the favourite of the politicos of the country can be spotted together in this footage. The Ambassador remained the official car of many politicians until very recently.

A few convoys cross the Rajpath and show the formation made up of vehicles like Tata Sumo, Tata Sierra and Tata Estate. Tata Sierra was used by the then Prime Minister of India P.V. Narasimha Rao. The motorcade slows down where the Amar Jawan Jyoti used to be at the centre of India Gate. The Amar Jawan Jyoti has been shifted to a newly built War Memorial, which is a few hundred metres away from the original spot.

Back then, the Special Protection Group used Tata Sumo. As the Prime Minister’s Sierra slows down and stops, SPG commandos can be spotted jumping out from the Tata Sumo and forming a cover. A commando then checks the surroundings and opens the door of the Tata Sierra for the Prime Minister.

Interestingly, the Tata Sierra was not made for the rear passengers. We can see the Prime Minister sitting in the rear seat coming out of the vehicle after folding the co-driver seat of the Sierra.

Currently, the Indian Prime Minister uses three different motorcades depending on location in the country. There are different motorcades located in different parts of the country that are used to transport him safely. In today’s Republic Day parade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a motorcade of Land Rover Range Rover. He also uses a motorcade of Mercedes-Maybach S650 Guard and a Toyota Land Cruiser LC200.

Tata Sierra is coming back

Tata will launch the all-new Sierra on a Gen 2 platform. It will offer an electric powertrain and a turbo-petrol engine variant. The electric version of the car will also offer AWD set-up dual motors. There will be one motor on each axle that will provide individual power to the front and rear wheels. It will be similar to what we get to see in the Harrier EV.

Tata will also offer a turbocharged petrol engine. Unlike the Harrier and Safari which do not offer any petrol engines, the all-new Sierra is likely to offer only a petrol engine option. There will be no diesel engine in the line-up.

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