Do You Know The Tata Sumo Story? Ratan Tata Named The Iconic SUV After A Man, Not The Sport!

We live in an era where owning a car is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Every city, town and street is flooded with automobiles causing hours-long traffic jams. However, several years ago, cars used to be few and owning them wasn¡¯t a cakewalk.

With the Maruti 800, 1000 and later on Esteem being the popular car choices, Ratan Tata¡¯s Tata Motors introduced the Tata Sumo MUV in India in the 1990s. It went on to become one of the most popular vehicles. In just three years, the manufacturer sold more than 1 lakh cars.

Do you know the story behind its name? Tata Sumo¡¯s name wasn¡¯t inspired by Japanese wrestling as one would have thought. In fact, this symbol of power and ruggedness, was inspired by a man not the sport!

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The Real Inspiration Was Mr. Sumant Moolgaokar, The Then MD Of Tata Motors

wikipedia

The story goes like this - Every day, the top executives of Tata Motors sat down for lunch together but Moolgaokar used to excuse himself to go out, only to return after a few hours.

Soon, rumours started doing the rounds among the management that he didn¡¯t take part in team lunches as he was given lunch treats by some Tata dealers in nearby five-star hotels.

To get to the bottom of the mystery, some workers from Tata Motors followed him one day during lunch time. To their surprise, he was spotted eating food at a roadside dhaba along with truck drivers. This was Sumant Moolgaokar¡¯s way of research and development, as during the course of the meal, he would discuss the problems and hurdles faced by those drivers who used Tata vehicles.

Once he was certain of what aspects were commendable or lacking, he would return to the office and communicate the required enhancements to the Tata design and R&D teams.

Therefore, he was widely recognized as the primary driving force behind Tata's success.

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Sumant Moolgaokar¡¯s Initials Became The Name Of Ratan Tata¡¯s Iconic SUV

TATA Motors' Journey To The Top: How Did TATA Motors Become India's Biggest Automobile Company?

The initials of Su-mant Mo-olgaokar's name served as the inspiration for the name of the SUV. His vision and dedication played a pivotal role in driving the research and development efforts of Tata Motors to great heights. In recognition of his contributions, he was honored with the Padma Bhushan award in 1990, one of the highest civilian honors bestowed by the Government of India.

The last recorded price of Tata Sumo Gold, a 10 seater SUV was Rs. 5.26 - 8.93 Lakh.