Tata Hexa pulls a plane! What? Watch Video
Pulling an aircraft with a passenger vehicle is a feat that has been achieved by some carmakers before. However, no Indian manufacturer had attempted this, not until now when Tata has done it with the Hexa.
The crossover pulled a passenger aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 which seemed like a tall order for it. Powering the Hexa is a 2.2 litre VARICOR diesel engine with two states of tune. The vehicle here is the top-end Hexa which, as seen in the video, struggled a bit to get the plane moving, but, the 400 Nm of torque which kicks in from 1,750 rpm helped in getting the plane moving after some time.
For reference, the Boeing 737-800, which can carry 189 passengers in a single class, has an unladen weight 41,400 kilos (without luggage, crew or passengers). The company’s all-wheel-drive system or ‘Super Drive Modes’ would have been put into action along with the torque-on-demand system for this attempt and these systems would have worked overtime to pull the aircraft.
The Hexa is offered with a 6-speed automatic transmission and a 6-speed manual gearbox. While the manual is the one to get different drive modes, the automatic variants get a ‘Race car mode’ which enhances the throttle response and holds a certain gear for longer. The automatic transmission has been sourced from Punch Powertrain, a transmission company based out of France, whereas the shifter has been sourced from ZF.