Indigenous carmaker Tata Motors’ Harrier mid-SUV succumbed to the growing demand for MG Hector and Kia Seltos
Tata Motors, India’s indigenous car manufacturer had a good couple of years with the launch of the Tiago, Nexon and Harrier, all of which proved to be cash cows for the brand. However, things are again looking gloomy for Tata Motors and cars like Harrier mid-SUV that has been doing fairly well ever since it was launched in January has succumbed to the growing competition from Kia Seltos and MG Hector.
Tata managed to sell only 635 units of Harrier, while it was doing more than 1,500 units in the previous months. Both the new entrants, on the other hand, performed immensely well. Kia Seltos manages to get 6,236 buyers in its very first month, outpacing even the segment leader Hyundai Creta.
Even the closest competitor to Harrier, MG Hector managed to get 2,018 buyers in its second month of sales. Previous month too, MG Hector outsold the Harrier, but the margin was lower. Not just the Harrier, even Jeep Compass faced the heat of competition.
| Months | No. Of Units Sold |
| February | 1,449 Units |
| March | 2,492 Units |
| April | 2,075 Units |
| May | 1,779 Units |
| June | 1,216 Units |
| July | 740 Units |
| August | 635 Units |
Data Source: AutoPunditz
Tata Motors as a whole is going through the turbulent times as the domestic auto industry is facing the worst sales crunch in the last 19 years. A variety of factors including upcoming BS-VI emission norms, GST rates and negative buyer sentiments are said to be the reason behind such a sales decline.
Tata Motors registered a sales decline of 60.3 percent in August 2019, the worst for any car manufacturer last month in India. Tata managed to sell only 7,316 units as compared to 18,420 units in the same month last year, recording negative growth of 60.3 per cent. When compared to July 2019, Tata Motors suffered 30 per cent decline, as it sold 10,485 units in July 2019. In July 2019, the Indian carmaker registered a sales decline of 38.6 per cent.
Tata Motors is powered by a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo diesel motor producing 143 bhp and 350 Nm of peak torque and is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. Tata will soon introduce the BS-VI Harrier with an automatic gearbox and a sunroof.