2006-2008 Tata Indigo Marina

If you think wagons have always done poorly in the States, it's nothing compared to how bad they've sold in India. By comparison, this is a mecca for long roofs. Let's check out some of the estates that failed to make an impact in the land where so much began.

Snappy tagline.

I love that Indians are incurable romantics.

You already know Tata; the 17th-largest car manufacturer in the world, they currently also own Jaguar and Land Rover, among several other concerns. Their Indigo station wagon variant, the Marina, was produced from 2006 to 2008. Part of the reason it didn't continue was the model was updated to the second generation, retitled the Manza and there was no wagon option. Tata went on to produce several other wagon-esque vehicles, but most would fall into the crossover category.

Beauty was not part of the design brief.

The Indigo Marina was a subcompact with a 5-speed manual and your engine choice of a 1.4-liter gasoline sporting 62 hp or a turbo diesel with 70 hp. Don't quote me on those power stats, figuring out what they actually were was very confusing. MSRP was ~$7500 US, so you can see that this was going after the cheaper buyer, not the Mercedes snob.

They were built cheaply, designed for a price point and there was no intention for them to last. Reviews I read ranged from severely negative to glowing, especially for the diesel. MPG was somewhere around 25/35, which was not good in comparison to competitors.

So why didn't wagons fly in highly-populated India? SUVs...if you didn't need a sedan or something more compact, why not go for something that was prepared for poor road conditions? Also, there was the perception that SUVs offered superior third row seating, which they did in comparison to compact wagons.

Imagine showing up to an autocross day in one of these.

I couldn't find a video of a Marina review. But there are several videos that show Marinas for sale or slideshows. Here's one where you can get a flavor for the dimensions and interior.

Stay tuned, we're not done yet.