Tata Harrier is expected to shake up the compact premium SUV segment upon arrival; rivals the likes of XUV500, Hyundai Creta and Jeep Compass
Tata Motors is all prepared to launch the long-awaited Harrier premium SUV on January 23 in the domestic market with much anticipation. The five-seater is expected to make a huge impact in the compact SUV space, as it will compete against the likes of top-spec Hyundai Creta and upcoming Nissan Kicks, XUV500 is expected to be priced from Rs. 12.95 lakh to 14.95 lakh.
Likely to be priced between Rs. 16 lakh and Rs. 21 lakh (on-road), the Harrier has more interior space than many of its rivals and is based on a brand new OMEGA (Optimal Modular Efficient Global Advanced) platform derived from Land Rover’s D8 that underpinned over a million SUVs worldwide.
The Harrier is the first fully-fledged descendant of Tata’s high profile learning from Jaguar Land Rover and it is also the maiden vehicle to be based on the Impact Design 2.0 philosophy. The Harrier has a striking exterior courtesy of the design cues taken from the H5X concept that brought limelight in the first place when it debut at 2018 Auto Expo.
Tata has sourced the 2.0-litre Multijet II diesel engine from FCA and rebranded it to Kryotec. It is the same unit found in the Jeep Compass making 140 PS and 350 Nm of peak torque. The powertrain is connected to a six-speed manual transmission as standard while a six-speed automatic torque converter unit sourced from Hyundai will be introduced as an option later.
Tata previously said that the Harrier was tested for about 2.2 million km across the globe and a seven-seater derivate with a different nomenclature is expected to make its debut at the 2020 Auto Expo. Following the Harrier’s launch, Tata has plans to introduce new vehicles in 90 percent of the addressable markets.
It includes a premium hatchback based on the 45X concept underpinned by the ALPHA platform. Moreover, the architecture will spawn more vehicles including the expected Hornbill micro SUV and a C-segment sedan rivalling against Honda City, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Volkswagen Vento, Skoda Rapid and Toyota Yaris.