Later this year, the Tata Hexa likely to be taken off the shelves to make room for the Buzzard
Last month, Tata Hexa, the flagship model in the Pune-based carmaker’s product portfolio, registered a sharp 67 decline in its sales performance. Compared to the 757 units sold in June 2018, the 7-seater SUV could manage to find only 253 buyers last month.
While the drop in the sales of the Hexa could be a result of the introduction of the Harrier, the Aria-based SUV will bow out of the market later this year to make space for the Buzzard. For the uninitiated, the Tata Buzzard will be the 7-seater sibling of the Hexa, with an extra row of seats to accommodate more passengers.
The Buzzard will even feature 2.0 Kryotec170 engine, a more powerful version of the Harrier’s motor. The 2.2-litre VARICOR400 engine of the Tata Hexa, however, will be unable to meet the stricter emission norms. The company is likely to pull its current flagship off the shelves to make room for a more modern 7-seater SUV that will come in the form of the Buzzard. However, on these speculative report, Tata Motors issued an official statement –
“Hexa is a product we are extremely proud of as it encapsulated the cream of our Engineering prowess and Styling skills. The love and passion of Hexa owners towards the car is invaluable for us, as it endorses the sheer multifaceted performance of the car. The recent articles on the discontinuation of the product are purely speculative and no official statement on the same has been issued by Tata Motors. However, we would like to clarify that each and every Hexa customer is important to us and we are firmly looking at expanding the HEXA brotherhood.”
The Tata Hexa was launched in January 2017. While the company insists that the Hexa’s an all-new model, it’s actually a thoroughly updated version of the Aria. The various styling updates that it carries over the Aria make the Hexa look suave and butch. Moreover, it comes with a well-appointed cabin that gets many safety and convenience-enhancing features.
While the Tata Hexa locks horns with the Mahindra XUV500, it could never outsell the latter. With the launch of the Buzzard being only a few months away from us, it definitely doesn’t make much sense for Tata Motors to have two 7-seater SUVs in its product portfolio, especially since there would be a price overlap and the Buzzard could very well eat into the sales of its slow-selling older sibling.
The Tata Buzzard, which will be a more modern offering than the Tata Hexa, is bound to benefit from a more modern design based on IMPACT 2.0 language, a world-class engine, and the Land Rover L500-derived Omega architecture. It will be even more spacious, with exterior dimensions that would make it one of the largest offering in the segment.