[condor]

Nice video, but I dont have any hopes because the video itself says "You Will Be Missed".

That 2.2 Varicor engine was said to be BS5 ready, but wish it could be BS6 updated too. But with the low sales numbers, I dont think Tata is going to bring the "beast" back.

Which ever way, I am glad I have the Storme.

[Sebring]

I think its just an exercise to keep the name alive. Hexa - Safari Edition; Giving one brand Hexa, a tinge of another - Safari, is an exercise in futility since the consumer wont be able to connect. Given that both look different and have different attributes. In fact, they need to preserve the brand name till a worthy successor comes along instead of diluting it like this.

[GTO]

All said & done, the "Safari" brand is legendary & carries enormous weight. IMHO, they should periodically keep posting such updates on the Safari to keep the legend alive and eventually use it for a totally butch SUV. I've pondered upon this from time to time = while the "Harrier" nameplate is good, branding that car "Safari" would've done wonders.

[batladanny]

I wish Tata follows the lead of Ford USA. They made the new gen Escape much more curvy/fluidic and then introduced the Bronco as a very boxy design. So now they have a typical modern crossover and a traditional SUV in the same range but appealing to totally different buyers. The Harrier and a new Safari could be similar. Ah, wishful thinking.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by GTO

All said & done, the "Safari" brand is legendary & carries enormous weight. IMHO, they should periodically keep posting such updates on the Safari to keep the legend alive and eventually use it for a totally butch SUV. I've pondered upon this from time to time = while the "Harrier" nameplate is good, branding that car "Safari" would've done wonders.

+1. Although its a polarizing matter whether the Harrier is truly worthy of carrying such an iconic brand ahead. In fact I'm honestly praying that the H7X suddenly doesn't get unveiled with a last minute change from Gravitas to Safari name plate come republic day.

While the chances of this happening are remote, this name change might be an option in a desperate attempt to ensure the Gravitas is not DoA due to the arrival of what seems to be a rather well shaped & kitted XUV5oo next generation. Tata better take a leaf from the naval superstitions & avoid a "ship's" name change just before launch.

Of course, higher probability that they are just keeping the legend alive. Something they'll have to do with effort in order to have a chance of reintroducing the brand a couple of years later. Given the current available platform portfolio, I don't think a "real" Safari can come back any sooner than that. The Safari's own X2 platform is somewhat available with Hexa being made still for exports and Storme basically for military specs. But another Safari on the same platform again might not tick all boxes of current generation customers.

By the time the next platform Safari actually may come - world would have moved a lot more towards EV mass acceptance. So another uncertainty about how it will be accepted. I sincerely feel Tata made a terrible blunder by not developing and launching a proper Safari successor / a fully kitted Safari Storme without obvious omissions for regular users. They missed the bus big time there and since have been just playing catch-up.

(And - I really hope a car named "HEXA - Safari Edition" never actually sees showrooms. It just doesn't work!)

[Candy$Cars]

Originally Posted by GTO

All said & done, the "Safari" brand is legendary & carries enormous weight. IMHO, they should periodically keep posting such updates on the Safari to keep the legend alive and eventually use it for a totally butch SUV. I've pondered upon this from time to time = while the "Harrier" nameplate is good, branding that car "Safari" would've done wonders.

Grew up watching reclaim your life ads and am a huge fan of The Safari. Just wanted to know your opinion. Where do you think another BUTCH SUV with the Safari name will slot in? With the Harrier top end almost 25 lacs on road, I assume that the Gravitas should touch the 28lac on road mark. Does the Safari brand have enough weight to play around in the 30+ lacs segment?

[arjab]

There's a product & price gap in the NEXON plus / HARRIER minus segment.
Dimensionally, the HARRIER / GRAVITAS twins sit on a wheelbase of 2740mm odd with an overall length of approximately 4.6-4.7 metres.
The HYUNDAI CRETA sits on 26xxmm wheelbase with an overall length of around 4.3x metres.
As far as I recall, the old SAFARI sat on a 2650mm wheelbase with an overall length of around 4.6metres.

TML can play around with two options:
1. Develop a Creta rival, (which I believe they are developing), and let it loose with the Safari badging. It should have multiple powertrain / transmission and drive configurations (FWD, 4x4 etc).

2. Rationalise HARRIER family by keeping 7-seater GRAVITAS, with an option of 5-seater GRAVITAS, and withdraw HARRIER 5-seater slowly after "Creta-Safari" hits the showrooms.
HARRIER, by now, has built up the brand/aesthetics/performance parameters sufficiently, amongst it's target customer base, hence if a 5seater/7-seater Gravitas is available, later, it will not detract the brand value too much.

But then I guess what Tata Motors will do is to simply paste the SAFARI badge to the BS-6 HEXA and call it SAFARI HEXA or HEXA SAFARI or whatever. This will totally confuse the potential customer; as the product will be positioned as neither a SAFARI nor a HEXA.
If this happens, then there will be another added layer of confusion as the HEXA is already a 7-seater, so a potential GRAVITAS customer may get confused and to save a few lakhs may "gravitate"(pun inntended) towards the HEXA-SAFARI. GRAVITAS retails will suffer.

Resurrecting/metamorphosising an old respected brand is far trickier than a new brand introduction.
You have to match the new product's attributes as close as possible to the core brand values and strengths of the old brand. And appeal to the target customer base on the basis of the strengths that made the old brand the success it was.
The new LR Defender, our own Mahindra THAR, BMW's building up of MINI brand, FIAT's new avataar of the 500 family: are all successes because they have followed this thought process.

On the other hand look at DATSUN in our market. This was a brand which, in its heydays, was known for stylish, affordable, innovative, durable and fun - to - drive automobiles. They also had a rich motorsports history. What it launched in India was as different as chalk & cheese! And look where they ended up!

It would be interesting to watch what TML finally does with one of its most coveted brands. Whatever they do, let's hope they don't bring ignominy to what was/is, perhaps TML's most desirable nameplate.

[ss212]

Really hope Tata doesn't dilute the Safari brand by introducing a Safari edition of Hexa or an off-road-incompetent crossover.

In an ideal world, Tata would bring out somewhat of a Thar competitor and call that Safari. Because through 2 decades the car was alive, it sold off-road ability and freedom ("Reclaim your life") as its core offering. With the car being used by the military, there's even more off-road cred the Safari has on its name.

In an even more ideal world (not happening, I know), Tata should bring back the Dicor shape with good off-road tech and sell it as a niche lifestyle product as they tried with the Xenon.

Even today, I can't resist twisting my neck to stare at a Dicor.

[nainan]

The Safari was always(in context of its contemporaries) the luxurious, spacious, yatch among SUVs which could take most rough seas. The silhouette also defined what an SUV looked like for most of us.
The Aria/Hexa are a very sorted modern car but unfortunately at least for me they do not look like an evolved SUV design. The Storme too carried over the same dated looks of the Safari, it looked SUV enough. The ride and handling IMHO was not as good as the Hexa.

To continue the pedigree of the Safari what is needed IMHO is:-

1. A modern interpretation of the SUV looks that's stylish and has 3 rows
2. The ability to cruise on highways in luxury with sufficient power on tap and refinement
3. The ability to tackle tough terrain like the Safari could
4. 4x4/AWD as this also adds to the SUV perception

So in my mind the H7X ticks all the boxes except the last one. Also it retains the iconic roof rails, the ribbed, stepped roof and looks like a modern interpretation of the icon.
I have driven the Harrier and it does remind me of a refined Safari in many ways and I imagine with the third row and the additional weight & height the H7X will seem more so.
I know some of you might look at the ladder frame chassis as another item on the above list however given that even the Range Rover is now a monocoque I don't think of this as a requirement for a true SUV. Given the above I think a H7X with the last box ticked as well can carry the brand well. There is also the problem of if at all they do design a separate Safari on the OmegaArc what would be its positioning and differentiation from the H7X?

As for the Creta/Seltos rival I cannot imagine the Safari brand being associated with that.

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Best guess - Trying to build some 'pedigree' for the Gravitas before it's unveil later this month.

Originally Posted by condor

But with the low sales numbers, I dont think Tata is going to bring the "beast" back.

Originally Posted by GTO

while the "Harrier" nameplate is good

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Although its a polarizing matter whether the Harrier is truly worthy of carrying such an iconic brand ahead. In fact I'm honestly praying that the H7X suddenly doesn't get unveiled with a last minute change from Gravitas to Safari name plate come republic day.

[Off-Topic - seeking opinion from experts here]
Tata is going to launch Gravitas (or whatever the final name might be), which is essentially longer 7-seater version of Harrier with similar silhouette. Why couldn't they had named it simply 'Harrier XL'.

My point being, as far as I assume, potential customers are also pulled in towards a product by its past sale numbers (obviously product itself is much bigger pull). So, by naming 'Harrier XL', the total sales could have been clubbed under one name (similar to Hector & Hector Plus).

Example 1 :
In June 2021, sales for Tata Motors are reported as :
Harrier : 2500
Gravitas : 1000

Example 2 :
In June 2021, sales for Tata Motors are reported as :
Harrier : 3500

Though many customers don't just focus on these numbers, however IMHO, Example 2 appears to give stronger image for product.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

[Off-Topic - seeking opinion from experts here]
Tata is going to launch Gravitas (or whatever the final name might be), which is essentially longer 7-seater version of Harrier with similar silhouette. Why couldn't they had named it simply 'Harrier XL.

Wow, talk of Deja Vu. Here is my own post from a whole year ago in Dec 2019 -

Originally Posted by Reinhard

So, a full separate badge "Gravitas" just for captain seats & 1 extra row of seats? No other distinction required in the two cars? Basically a coup similar to Ertiga - XL6 branding wise. Would that be accepted at such premium positioning? Perhaps then simply having 2 variants of Harrier would make more sense. No separate name plate.

Even today - I feel there is not much left for the Gravitas to boast of. Originally I'm sure their plan was -

1. Harrier - 140 PS, Manual only (AT option to be added 2 quarters after Gravitas settled in)
2. Gravitas - 170 PS, AT Option

Thanks to Covid19 & strong competition by Seltos, Creta etc, they had to urgently bring the 170PS Harrier along with AT, before the Gravitas. Meanwhile - when a customer will walk into the Gravitas driver's seat, this is what he / she will see -

1. Same steering wheel
2. Same dashboard, perhaps different colour here and there
3. Same cockpit layout and design
4. Same seats, door panels, material
5. Same Infotainment system
6. NO SUNROOF! <-- This being the only real differentiator, for a car that will be costlier!

Just doing something a-la Hector PLUS was what would have been better. And I'm saying this purely on the basis of the differences in the two car - not from the managerial point of view of reporting sales numbers or solidifying position in the sales charts etc. at all.
Given the way things look - unless they suddenly pull something out of the bag - the Gravitas will either be DOA or will already be looked at with expectations of very competitive pricing / early discounting.

[v1p3r]

Man, this ad is so bad! Did no one else notice how amateurish it looked? Honestly, a bunch of high-schoolers could have made a better video on their phones.

Compared to the beautiful ads that were the Dicor campaign, this is excrement.

To refresh everyone's memory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYuXVlvCftQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pMIkREluMQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDr79dxH1V0

[NiInJa]

For someone who is used to watching PowerDrift and Sagar Sheldekar's videos, I found this Safari tribute video too amateurish. Tata could have done better for this legendary vehicle.

[omzworld]

Hope for Hexa safari edition seems to be getting stronger. 2 days back heard some rumor of mid Jan launch. From a Hexa owner, the amateurish video seems rejuvenating.

[yd_gli]

So wait! Do most want the Safari badge to continue for nostalgia or for the actual product that it was?

I hope it is the former since the Safari was never a well engineered or robust product. Just because it was the first actual SUV on the Indian scene doesn't mean it was worth buying. People bought it since it was the only one on the scene. How many of us bought it then? And how many of us will today buy a ~35L Safari over a Fortuner or an Endeavor??

I'm happy that they got rid of it and decided to focus on better engineered products such as the Harrier/Altroz etc. The Safari, Sierra, Estate were all a bag of bolts and basically ate tires and oil like there was no tomorrow. I know because my dad owned one. The only thing going for them at the time was that they were bigger than every other car on the road.

So yeah, the old Safari is best buried. A new Safari will not sell. The Hexa/Harrier are far better engineered and overall superior products to the Safari. I don't see the problem with them launching a Safari edition Hexa/Gravitas or Harrier. Oh, and most of today's population has long forgotten the Safari in the sea of SUVs that are on the market today. They don't even know what a true SUV is. Barring a few fanboys nobody is going to be disappointed with a Safari edition Hexa. I am just happy they are getting the Hexa back.