The main USP of Tata Harrier will be its edgy styling based on the Impact Design 2.0 philosophy and Fiat-sourced 2.0-litre diesel engine
Tata Motors’ next big thing in the Indian market is undoubtedly the Harrier premium SUV. The homegrown manufacturer revealed the official name ending months of speculations a few weeks ago, and confirmed early 2019 as its launch timeframe. With Tata riding on recent sales momentum, the upcoming SUV holds key for more success in the premium SUV space.
While the five-seater version will be launches first, the seven-seat variant is expected to follow within a year of its debut to rival Jeep Compass, Mahindra XUV500 and Hyundai Tucson. The former though will eye the spotlight currently held by Hyundai Creta and it appears to have the essential ingredients to take the challenge in the compact SUV segment to the next level.
The main USP of Tata Harrier will be its edgy outlook based on the Impact Design 2.0 philosophy. It is in fact the first model to bear the evolutionary form of existing styling found in latest Tata vehicles such as Nexon and Hexa. Based on the brand new OMEGA platform, it is confirmed to have 85 percent of its design derived from H5X concept showcased at 2018 Auto Expo.
The Tata Harrier will come equipped with 2.0-litre Multijet diesel engine sourced from Fiat and is the same unit found in Jeep Compass. However, there will be two states of tunes: One pertaining to the needs of Creta rival and the other producing close to 170 horsepower. Tata will also be introducing a whole range of customisation options with the Harrier.
Customers will be in a position to configure the Harrier online with a slew of intuitive features according to a report emerged on the internet. It will be one step above what Tata managed to do with Nexon’s Imaginator that allowed buyers to choose between variants and engine options, along with exterior accessories and colour schemes.
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) recently reported that top 25 car makers in India have invested Rs. 6,344 crore on R&D in 2016-17 period. Tata Motors spent the most despite enduring a loss of Rs. 2,619 crore during the same timeline.
It leads Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Honda Cars India and Ashok Leyland as the biggest R&D spender with over Rs. 2,100 crore to develop five- and seven-seat premium SUVs and the Baleno rivaling premium hatchback due in 2020. Tata is expecting to outgrow the industry in FY18-19 as well due to the Tiago and Nexon achieving consistent sales figures.