Tata Motors rolled out its 100,000th Ace from its Pune Plant. Tata Motors has achieved this milestone within 20 months of the launch of the Ace, India's first mini-truck, in May 2005. The 100,000th Ace was flagged off by Ratan N Tata, Chairman, Tata Motors.

Since its launch in India, the Ace has received stupendous response from customers across India and has rewritten the dynamics of the commercial vehicle industry. Besides having been introduced in all major states of India, it has also been launched in Sri Lanka.

Tata Motors is setting up a dedicated plant for the Ace at Pant Nagar in Uttaranchal, with an annual capacity of 250,000 units. The plant will begin production this year.

Commenting on the achievement, Ravi Kant, managing director, Tata Motors, said, "It is a moment of great pride and satisfaction for all of us at Tata Motors on achieving this milestone in such a short span of time. We are happy that we have been able to meet customers' need for a mini-truck for the last-mile connection, while providing comfort, style and easy maintenance. What particularly pleases us is that the Ace has been able to generate self-employment, with many of its owners being individuals who have entered the transportation industry for the first time."

The Ace is powered by a small and efficient unique twin cylinder 16PS IDI 700cc diesel engine. Suitable for both rural and urban use, the Ace has the ability to carry a variety of payloads and has the agility to navigate narrow by-lanes with its turning radius of 4.3 metres.

The Ace is a high performance, low maintenance, safe and reliable mini-truck with sporty car-like features to ensure comfort in ride and handling. It has an ergonomically designed, all-steel cabin, including elegant two-toned seats, clear instrument cluster, utility trays, magazine pockets, twin-blade, twin-speed wipers and combination switches. The conveniently positioned gears and parking brake enhance comfort during ride and handling. The Ace meets all safety norms, including frontal crash, roof crush and rear wall strength. To ensure the safety of the driver and co-driver, seat belts are standard fitment. Disc and drum brakes in the front and rear respectively ensure high performance in sudden braking while the large windscreen and rear window allows for higher level of vision and clarity.

Tata Motors has also recently launched the Tata Ace HT (high torque), a special variant to deal with a wide variety of gradients especially to deal with the on ground reality of the north eastern region slopes and climbs more effectively. Tata Motors has also developed several applications of the Tata Ace, such as water tankers, delivery vans (box type, for high-volume low-weight cargo), delivery vans (bodyline, for precious cargo and courier services), garbage tippers, D'Siltman (for desilting underground drainage and wells), dumper placers, and Ace-elevated platforms.

Over the years, Tata Motors has focused on introducing new products based on deep understanding of customers needs. The outstanding acceptance of the Ace is a testimony to the success of that approach.