[TangoSierra]

Now, the last few years, TATA has been firing on all cylinders and it shows. Zest, Bolt, Hexa, Tiago, Tigor, Nexon, JTP Twins and now the Harrier. Though TATA had kick-started the Compact sedan market in India with the Indigo eCS, of late, they have been pretty slow in reacting to the market trend [compact SUV segment].

But, Harrier, though quite late, is ONE HUGE LEAP for TATA and much-needed breakthrough in the Compact SUV segment and TATA has got it right, everything right with the Harrier. The proper modern SUV looks, spacious interiors, underpinnings of the Landrover, it took 10 years for the TATA's acquisition of JLR to bear a tangible fruit for the Indian SUV buyer and boy oh boy, its worth the wait. I was contemplating on buying Tiago JTP, but might as well blow up a happy huge hole in my wallet with the Harrier.

Slightly off-topic, but I would like to register here. I always have a special place for TATA cars in my heart and some of my firsts happen to be in a TATA car.

1 - Learning to Drive in a TATA Indicab DLE
2 - Assisting in Disassembling and re-assembling a gearbox at our local mechanic shop - TATA Indica
3 - First Solo drive in city limits and first highway drive - TATA Indigo eCS
4 - First 100 Kmph run - on an unused airport runway [no joking, I'm serious here] - TATA Indigo
5 - First SUV in our garage - TATA Sumo Gold
6 - First Crush - TATA Safari Dicor [and its Reclaim your life ad campaign]

All these because we are involved in the fleet car industry and TATAs being a favourite for fleet operators. The cars have always lived up to "More car Per car" tagline and are very easy to service at local mechanic shops. There's always a bit of nostalgia with these TATA cars.

[narayan]

Not sure if already discussed, but is there a petrol engine option ? I'm sure a petrol model makes a reasonable contribution to volumes even at these price points.

[GrammarNazi]

Timing is a fair bit important, and Tata Motors is nowhere close to being on time in this compact SUV segment. In order to disrupt any market, TATAs new product had to be exponentially better than the products presently available.

While people have enumerated the Harriers' positives, here's 2 constraining points to consider :

Minor :
Those who buy the cars in January 2019, would probably be buying 2018 manufactured copies of the vehicle.

Major :
The car doesn't comply with BS VI emission norms - AFAIK this means these cars can't be resold within metros after 2020.

This combination leaves a narrow leeway into a consumers' shortlist. It'll be interesting to see if Tata is able to compensate early adopters & loyalists for these issues.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

While people have enumerated the Harriers' positives, here's 2 constraining points to consider :

Minor :
Those who buy the cars in January 2019, would probably be buying 2018 manufactured copies of the vehicle.

Major :
The car doesn't comply with BS VI emission norms - AFAIK this means these cars can't be resold within metros after 2020.

This applies to anyone buying just about any car in January. A Compass or Creta you get in Jan 2019 will in all probability be 2018 made. And there is no mass market car on sale yet which is BS6 complaint.

[samaspire]

The H5X concept that we all fell in love with was a nubile, young thing with perfect figure and enticing looks. What we are seeing now is a matured, plumpier version of it with a fat posterior, bigger eyes, fuller lips and bit too much make-up.

The major differences I see from the concept are that the front bumper has totally changed, the fog lamp area has increased the size of the black in the headlight cluster, and the front grill area has increased in height.

And I don't understand the case of the silver alloys - from a manufacturer who has made even a steel wheel look like a beautiful alloy, this one just does not make the cut. But for all we know, these images are probably not that recent; they could be from before we started seeing the complete test mules and the crash test car. Hope these silver alloys are just temporary fixtures.

For all these minor complaints, when seen as a standalone product, it is by far the best looking India-made car we have in the market.

As for the missing goodies like big black alloys, roof rails, sun roof, etc., we should not forget that Tata has mentioned customization options previously. Those are probably meant to be added there. From Tata's perspective this would help in keeping the price within a certain range, while giving the customer the option to add-on goodies at additional expense.

[bageherath]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

......

Major :
The car doesn't comply with BS VI emission norms - AFAIK this means these cars can't be resold within metros after 2020.
.....

Tata Motors KRYOTECH will be BS VI ready from the go.


https://auto.ndtv.com/news/tata-harr...-ready-1927927

[spindoc]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

Timing is a fair bit important, and Tata Motors is nowhere close to being on time in this compact SUV segment. In order to disrupt any market, TATAs new product had to be exponentially better than the products presently available.

I doubt the Harrier can be called a Compact SUV given its dimensions (comparable to the CR-V). Tata's intention is to create a new category with this product, one that will attempt to appeal to shoppers across multiple segments.

[CarguyNish]

Tata Harrier Imagined in 9 Colors by IAB



















Looks good in Dark Colors.

While these aren't final colors, expect some of these to make their way at launch.

Tata might offer some specific colors apart from regular ones from their stable. Dual Tone will be made available I guess like Nexon.

[JediKnight]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

....
The car doesn't comply with BS VI emission norms - AFAIK this means these cars can't be resold within metros after 2020.
....

That's not true. Post 2020 new vehicles that are BS VI compliant will only be allowed to be registered in metros. This does not mean older vehicles that are already registered and not BS VI cannot be resold.

[bageherath]

I feel the offical studio pic angle gives much bulky feel when you compare to the First car roll-out pic angle.

[manaljain]

One point that crosses my mind is the WEIGHT of the car!

TATA Hexa/Curb weight
2,113 to 2,261 kg

Mahindra XUV500/Curb weight
1,785 to 2,080 kg

There's a massive 300 kg weight difference between Hexa & Xuv which means that there is a certain drop in the performance with respect to power-to-weight and torque-to-weight ratios of the Hexa.

Now going by the size of Harrier I do feel that it'll be on the heavier side leading to drop in sales to it's competitors.

[Strangerintown]

Originally Posted by manaljain

One point that crosses my mind is the WEIGHT of the car!

TATA Hexa/Curb weight
2,113 to 2,261 kg

Mahindra XUV500/Curb weight
1,785 to 2,080 kg

There's a massive 300 kg weight difference between Hexa & Xuv which means that there is a certain drop in the performance with respect to power-to-weight and torque-to-weight ratios of the Hexa.

Now going by the size of Harrier I do feel that it'll be on the heavier side leading to drop in sales to it's competitors.

The Harrier is smaller than the Hexa (and maybe slightly smaller than the XUV) and will also feature the Unibody construction of Discovery Sport instead of a full fat body on frame. Hence I do not see why it should be heavier than the XUV.

I suspect the 140Hp engine output in this case should make the vehicle far livelier than the Hexa.

[pavi]

Originally Posted by manaljain

One point that crosses my mind is the WEIGHT of the car!

TATA Hexa/Curb weight
2,113 to 2,261 kg

Mahindra XUV500/Curb weight
1,785 to 2,080 kg

There's a massive 300 kg weight difference between Hexa & Xuv which means that there is a certain drop in the performance with respect to power-to-weight and torque-to-weight ratios of the Hexa.

Now going by the size of Harrier I do feel that it'll be on the heavier side leading to drop in sales to it's competitors.

I don't think outright performance will be a strong criteria while deciding among these SUVs. Butch looks, comparable performance, a good automatic,
and safety features would make a better deal. Unibody construction of Discovery Sport itself should be creating an extra 'pull' in the market as Indians get carried away with these technical jargon, and more so when there is a word 'Discovery' (Land Rover) associated with it.

[Arjun Reddy]

My only concern now, is that Tata may omit the 4*4 and the automatic at launch.

For some strange reason most manufacturers tend to omit or not have automatic on their top-spec models at launch.

Hope Tata takes a leaf off the Toyota book and go with all guns blazing ie have both the 4*4 and the automatic at launch in the top spec trims.

Look at Toyota, they were not afraid to launch the 2.8 automatic on their Innova though the top end pricing between the previous gen and the Crysta was a good 10 lakhs more OTR.

A Range Rover design and platform, with the Jeep Compass engine and the Tucson gearbox for 5-7 lakhs cheaper than the other two will be delightful. Game on.

[prakash_ajp]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Hope Tata takes a leaf off the Toyota book and go with all guns blazing ie have both the 4*4 and the automatic at launch in the top spec trims.

Look at Toyota, they were not afraid to launch the 2.8 automatic on their Innova though the top end pricing between the previous gen and the Crysta was a good 10 lakhs more OTR.

There's a saying in my language of a cat that burnt his skin for the stripes so he will become a tiger. It will be akin to that.

As you yourself have acknowledged, there will be a price to be paid!

And when it comes to pricing of Toyota vehicles, esp. the Innova and Fortuner, there's simply no price that would be termed insane. But Tata don't have the same luxury. For the moment, they have to be content selling their cars to (mostly) people who are licking their lips in anticipation of value for money prices (read rock bottom prices ) and heavy discounts.