Tata gets ready for Xover launch

[directinjection]

Today's Hindustan Times reports that trial production of X2 platform based Xover will begin in June-July this year. Commercial production will begin in October-November. First revealed at Geneva in March 2005 and sometimes erroneously described as the New Safari, the Xover is a seven seater like the Innova but will offer 4X4 option.

Tata Motors set to launch crossover- Hindustan Times

Here is Tata Motors' March 2005 press release of Xover:

Tata | Media releases | Tata Motors unveils the Tata Xover

Meanwhile Autocar reports that work has begun on Safari facelift which will be a proper facelift of the type Sumo went through recently. The new Safari is expected in 2009.

[dadu]

They are targeting a different segment with Xover. Displayed first in 2005.

I hope the Safari facelift is quicker, otherwise the launch goes onto the next decade.

The Indian market for crossovers has grown in the past few years, partly in tandem with the boom in call centres and outsourcing jobs. Vehicles such as the Tavera and Innova are in great demand with the taxi companies which ferry callcentre and BPO staff.

[safari_lover]

Good news.
So we would be having three vehicle options in the Innova category, with Xover and the Mahindra Ingenio.

Wonder if it affects Sumo Grande sales too!

[SUV]

Originally Posted by dadu

I hope the Safari facelift is quicker, otherwise the launch goes onto the next decade.

expect the Facelift in 2010 .... 09 a remote possibility...

[ranc]

Originally Posted by safari_lover

Good news.
So we would be having three vehicle options in the Innova category, with Xover and the Mahindra Ingenio.

Wonder if it affects Sumo Grande sales too!

Is Sumo Grande selling, its still not visible on the roads, only one team bhpian has bought one. I TDed it and didnt like the build quality lot of rattling and dropped the idea of buying one. I hope they dont do the same with the XOver

[PAVAN KADAM]

With the release notes, i feel the Xover will compete with better cars,

The innova or the ingenio will never come close to it in terms of features loaded.

How do we compare the Xover with 4X4/all around air bags/climate control/traction control/ABS/7 seater, with the ingenio or the Innova.

The Xover as per me will be the best in the luxury segment and will clash head on with better M & SUV.

Lets wait and watch this space for the Xover.

And the facelift of Safari, Mr TATA pls not right now.

Yes i agree we need to wait for a long time indeed, definately upto 2015 for the face lift(One more tough)

[ajnagpur]

The design itself is so Radical. Hope Tata does best this time with NVH & Plastic quality taken care of.

[GTO]

Exciting times indeed! Tata is truly on a roll. The Xover concept was based on the Tata Estate, so I doubt the Xover will be anything like it except for the design. Its huge, so it can be expected to be a class-leader in space. And Tata has never had a problem with ride quality either (Safari, Sumo, Indigo etc.).

How do they plan to position it? Tata still doesn't have the capability to reach the quality level that a 15 lakh buyer would expect. But on the option list, I see goodies like traction control, multi-zone climate control, nav system, multiple airbags and so on. Maybe these are offered only for exports? Or higher-end variants in India too?

IMHO its going straight against the Innova. Only question is...where can it beat the Innova which is a near perfect people mover? Price? Yup, I think its going to undercut the Innova by a massive margin.

Originally Posted by ranc

I TDed it and didnt like the build quality lot of rattling and dropped the idea of buying one. I hope they dont do the same with the XOver

The Grande is still based on the 15 year old Sumo, thus it isn't a giant leap ahead. But the Xover is an all new platform.

[jkdas]

So we will have the Xover on roads by Jan 2009. And coz of this reason, I doubt if we will have the new Safari by early 2009.

Mahindra 2.2 with lot of electronic stuff didnt sell well cause of its price. Hope Tata doesnt make this mistake just coz Xover is gonna be loaded.

Pricing is the only way Tata can sell. Quality is what makes Toyota sell.

[karanraheja]

I guess Tata will give good interiors since they are planning to Export the xover to Europe. They better price it competitively to compete with Innova!

[safari_lover]

I don't think Tatas would price it too steep. They have always played the Value for Money card to perfection.

[Strangerintown]

Originally Posted by SUV

expect the Facelift in 2010 .... 09 a remote possibility...

I understand from sources that the internal target for the new safari is 2010 but based on current status it is expected only in 2011.

[kkdelhi]

Perhaps it was the way the pic was taken (that came in the papers today) that the XOver looked exactly like an Innova. And, I agree, as GTO said, the XOver is likely going to have a big price advantage vis-a-vis the Innova.

The 'new Safari? Wonder what it's going to look like?

[SanMan]

XOver looks a lot like Mercedes R with the new cadillac design treatment.

[sgmuser]

First Tata make their sumo and safari trustworthy, instead of just being over optimistic and just keep on launching products. They should learn from M&M for what they have done with Scorpio, one model and trustworthy, sturdy and realiable. I have 2 friends with Safari, and what they say is you can never predict whether this monster will start or not in a cold morning. This kind of reliability is not going to help them in anyway. As a Tata Motors shareholder and avid motor enthusiast, it is very disappointing when I hear about Sumo Grande's issues on even basic stuff. What counts is quality. even the newly lunched Sumo is lagging the very basic of car making (this is based on the feedback from the only one owner in tbhp). I almost bought it, but the history of new model from Tata made me hesitate. so, hope atleast on this model they do something REALLY.