[ruzbehxyz]

Tata Motors was founded in 1945, as a locomotive manufacturer.
After years of dominating the commercial vehicle market in India, Tata Motors entered the passenger vehicle market in 1991 by launching the Tata Sierra, a SUV based on the Tata Mobile platform. Tata subsequently launched the Tata Estate in 1992, the legendary Tata Sumo in 1994 and the Tata Safari in 1998.
While the Sierra was ahead of its time, The Sumo was a legendary vehicle, while Safari also being legendary had a huge SUV fan base. Except for Tata Estate, all of the others had the option of 4x4 at some point.

Over the last few years, Tata motors is doing really well and launched some amazing cars which are very sucessfull in the Indian market, with stiff competetion from other top manufacturers. But what is lacking is the 4x4 option, except for Tata Xenon which is primarily just a pick up.

Tata SUV’s lineup has helped revive the sales for Tata Motors. SUV's like the Nexon and Punch have been raking in sales of over 10K units per month. Though Tata SUVs are quite capable off-road, none of its SUVs come with a proper 4WD systems. Earlier, Tata had such a system in the old Safari, Safari Storme, Aria, Hexa etc.

In the current lineup, no Tata SUV comes with a 4WD option. Tata Motors has also stated that it has no foreseeable plans to introduce a 4WD in the near future. The major reason behind this decision has been attributed to the lack of demand for 4WD vehicles. According to Tata, the 4WD variant accounts for only 2 percent of Indian SUVs. They are even lower in the segment Harrier competes in.
While the Safari and Harrier are based on Omega Arc, which is derived from Land Rovers D8 platform, Tata will have to invest a lot of money to make it compatible to accommodate a 4WD system. This will make the Harrier and Safari a lot more expensive than the competition.

Source: https://motoroctane.com/news/234162-...4WD%20vehicles.


On the flip side, lets look at Mahindra. The new Mahindra Thar was launched with 4x4 and is a superhit in the Indian market with sales figures moving upwards. With the success of the 4x4, Mahindra now launched the 4x2 variant at a very competitive price, which also has good amount of bookings.


In early 2019, Tata motors made a statement:

Harrier 4x4 a possibility but not a priority: Tata Motors.
Tata could look at adding a 4x4 variant to the Harrier line-up after 2020; present focus is on readying its line-up to meet upcoming BS-VI emission norms.

Source: https://www.autocarindia.com/car-new...-motors-411861

In late 2022, Tata motors made another statement:

Let us first transition to the new world (electric) and then we will start giving such an option there..if Harrier and Safari sales start going towards electric... then we can have four by four coming there.

Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...7.cms?from=mdr

Another statement early this year:

“Our focus will be to try and do that in the electric vehicles. We are going to work on this in the electric version of our future SUVs.”
Shailesh Chandra, Tata Motors Managing Director, Passenger Vehicle and Electric Vehicles.

Read more here: https://www.hindustantimes.com/car-b...704491974.html


Currently there are rumours of various Tata SUV's coming in the Indian market with 4x4. eg - Tata Sierra, Tata Estate. As of now, we did not get any Tata petrol / diesel SUV with 4x4, in the current line up. However it is quite evident that 4x4 may only come in EV format. But with EV's still emerging, would that be too late?


Tata Sierra concept SUV at Auto expo 2020.
Source: Autocar India.

Do you want to see current and new Tata SUV's in 4WD option?

[GTO]

Definitely want to. Not offering AWD on the Harrier / Safari is a competitive disadvantage as chief rival Mahindra has 4x4 / AWD on the Scorpio-N, XUV700, Thar etc. Selling AWD brings a small number of adventure tourers to your brand. It also makes for great marketing & brand enhancement. Who can forget the iconic Tata Safari 4x4 ads?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYthT2wB394

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

Tata cannot come out with such ads today as then, it would be just a poser SUV. Tata has the platform, tech & talent. AWD / 4x4 absolutely should be brought back.

[padmrajravi]

Among the top 10 manufacturers in India, Tata, Renault, and Honda are the only manufacturers that do not have an AWD or 4x4 vehicle in their portfolio. Even Suzuki, whom everybody blames for giving us only cheap cars, now has 2 AWD cars in their portfolio. Ironic that the manufacturer who kickstarted the lifestyle segment with those 'Make your own roads' now does not have anything that can wear that badge. But I understand their point of view as well. Tata Motors has been cash-strapped for some time now and did not have enough resources to go behind this segment. And there is a transition happening to EVs globally. So R&D efforts in the ICE segment do not have a long future now. So it makes sense to invest in AWD only in the EV segment. Hoping for Harrier EV AWD in the near future.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by GTO

Definitely want to. Not offering AWD on the Harrier / Safari is a competitive disadvantage as chief rival Mahindra has 4x4 / AWD on the Scorpio-N, XUV700, Thar etc.

+1
Not only missing AWD/4WD on Harrier and Safari, these are FWD / Front wheel drive, vehicles which are not preferred by many. Mahindra on the other hand launched the Thar in 4WD and doing so well, they even launched the 2WD option with a very competitive price.

Selling AWD brings a small number of adventure tourers to your brand. It also makes for great marketing & brand enhancement.

Absolutely. The Indian market is slowing and steadily emerging as a touring SUV market and hence some more additional gear like AWD will definitely be icing on the cake. As per Tata, the 4WD buyers have a very less market share and hence they don’t want to concentrate on that segment. A 4WD Tata EV will have far less buyers today than a 4WD Tata ICE vehicle.

[Slushmaster]

As I have owned all the generations of 4wd Tata Safari, I really want Tata to bring a good ICE based 4wd.

Tata Motors discontinued offering 4wd due to lack of the demand, but who is responsible for this lack of demand. Till 1997-98, there was no competition for Safari, Sierra, Estate, Mobile and Sumo. With bad service, poor customer care and lingering quality issues, Tata presented the entire portfolio to Mahindra and Toyota as they were focussing on Indica. Lack of innovation and poor customer management resulted in low sales and thus the low demand.
Even the showroom folks used to push away customers by taking 2wd versions by saying "Sir pahadon main hee karma aata hai, aapko zarrorat Zahin hai".

Tata really needed to fire their Market Research agency as they fed them with wrong information since they started doing research for the passenger vehicle segment. Even the first Iteration of Harrier wasn't offering what competitors were giving and later they updated their product with the market demand.

Also, I think they(Tata) need to start reading Team-Bhp on a daily basis as our forum gives real inputs on what Indian customers and enthusiasts want.

[condor]

Originally Posted by Slushmaster

Tata Motors discontinued offering 4wd due to lack of the demand, but who is responsible for this lack of demand.

IMO, the key mistake was to offer 4WD only in the top trim levels, as seen in the Storme and Hexa. This put the models out of reach of many, and hence low sales numbers for 4x4 models. Yes, their market research teams look to have slipped here.

[libranof1987]

Tata has done tremendous disservice to itself by not offering AWD/4*4 on their cars (esp. the Safari). Either they should have offered it from the word go, or not named a 7 seater Harrier a Safari.

I don't understand what additional market validation the product guys at Tata need to offer AWD/4*4 when the success of cars, right from Thar to Duster to XUV700 to Compass is for all to see.

But then, we've been saying this since forever.

[Asoon]

Big YES, I want TATA to bring new generation Safari Storme, with original Safari DNA (not like elongated Harrier which they call Safari), BOF structure , proper 4X4/ RWD (not awd)

This was a segment which was TATAs forte once, they created this segment in India with old Safari , Sierra. Both Harrier and the current Safari are great lookers but they are no match to Safari Dicor / Storme in terms of road presence.

Thar / Scorpio N have already proved that demand exists and Tata has this great opportunity to tap into this because this demand segment has always aspired to own a Safari / Sierra when they were growing up

[DicKy]

New profits may have made Tata see more clearer that they have started to accept the fact that AWD/4x4 is needed even if sales are low for those versions. Hope against hope that it also makes Tata backtrack on their "no BoF, no new diesel engine" strategy. AWD versions even by Maruti and the crash test ratings of the Thar and ScorpioN have made hollow of Tata PR's claim against AWD/4X4 and BoF respectively.

It is almost like Tata is yet to get over the market failures of the Sumo Grande and Aria.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by condor

IMO, the key mistake was to offer 4WD only in the top trim levels, as seen in the Storme and Hexa. This put the models out of reach of many, and hence low sales numbers for 4x4 models. Yes, their market research teams look to have slipped here.

The whole purpose of buying a 4x4 for the enthusiast will be 4x4 and so many would be ready to let go off some techie features. Hence giving 4x4 in a base model can be beneficial. In 2015, when the Scorpio was rewamped, they gave a Scorpio 4x4 in S4 model (the S2 was the base model). Later 4x4 only came in S11.
Most of the companies are giving 4x4/AWD in the top model, probably going by the thinking that 4x4 is a luxury. But I think if the 4x4 variant is given in base models, the sales of these would probably be higher.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I don't understand what additional market validation the product guys at Tata need to offer AWD/4*4 when the success of cars, right from Thar to Duster to XUV700 to Compass is for all to see.
But then, we've been saying this since forever.

+1

Originally Posted by Asoon

Thar / Scorpio N have already proved that demand exists and Tata has this great opportunity to tap into this because this demand segment has always aspired to own a Safari / Sierra when they were growing up

The Scorpio N 4x4 costs about 30 lakhs on road roughly and quite a few bookings have been made. It’s probably made to order, but why can’t Tata do the same with a Safari ?

[arjab]

Originally Posted by GTO

Not offering AWD on the Harrier / Safari is a competitive disadvantage as chief rival Mahindra has 4x4 / AWD on the Scorpio-N, XUV700, Thar etc. Selling AWD brings a small number of adventure tourers to your brand. It also makes for great marketing & brand enhancement. Who can forget the iconic Tata Safari 4x4 ads?

TML wanted to. They cannot. The issue is not with the platform, (the LR D5 can support 4x4); it is the powertrain (Fiat derived) and its integration with the rest of the body/platform that is the issue.
At present the centre tunnel is fouling when the rear propellor shaft is being packaged. No way you can get around that. And re-aligning the centre tunnel means practically a new floor!
One way out is to use a separate rear "e - axle" unit. Much like some of the Jeep models in international markets. Apparently that too is being explored.

[Asoon]

Originally Posted by arjab

TML wanted to. They cannot. The issue is not with the platform, (the LR D5 can support 4x4); it is the powertrain (Fiat derived) and its integration with the rest of the body/platform that is the issue.

Unlike Maruti / Hyundai Tata has always been active in larger dimension segment, and eventually they need to move away from Fiat Powertrain if they are serious about 4.5m+ 15L+ segment. Current strategy was good for the entry but 2.0L multijet is not upto the mark against Mahindra engine. They will have to develop next generation of their Varicor Diesel engine to stay relevant (changing colors , adding seat covers , dual tone roofline like facelift / special editions cannot keep the momentum for long)

[DRPSREDDY]

I want TATA motors to design a new SUV on the OMEGA ARC platform with short overhangs with good approach and departure angle, a five seater with full time 4x4 in low and high gear options witha boxy design and name it SUMO.
I would love it to do all time off roading capabilities, come what close to Defender 90.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by DRPSREDDY

I want TATA motors to design a new SUV on the OMEGA ARC platform with short overhangs with good approach and departure angle, a five seater with full time 4x4 in low and high gear options witha boxy design and name it SUMO.

Tata indeed launched the Sumo 4x4. Tata used to offer a 4×4 version of the Sumo specifically for the Indian army. It is a very rare car as a limited number were built. The Sumo 4×4 used to come with a 2.0-litre diesel engine capable of producing 92bhp of power. It also got a different suspension than the normal Sumo. Tata used to offer a 4×4 system and automatic hub lockers.

Specifications https://www.india.com/auto/tata-cars...4x4-tc-bs-iii/

https://youtu.be/8GfQ_M2eyiI

Tbhp link: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-v...eel-drive.html (Tata Sumo four-wheel-drive)

[DRPSREDDY]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Tata indeed launched the Sumo 4x4. Tata used to offer a 4×4 version of the Sumo specifically for the Indian army. It is a very rare car as a limited number were built.

Completely agree. But what we need is a modern machine with latest safety and features. It should be what the old gen Defender is to the new one and Old Safari Storme is to the New Safari.

Apart from this I want TATA Motors to built a new bigger SUV on the OMEGA ARC platform that is longer and wider than the current Safari and should look a lot squarer than the curvy Safari.

Complete Macho look should it have.