Team-BHP - Harrier: 5 year / unlimited km extended warranty coming as Tata tries to revive sales
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Thanks to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this page!

Harrier: 5 year / unlimited km extended warranty coming as Tata tries to revive sales-2019tataharrier01.jpg

Tata Motors is expected to offer a 5 year / unlimited km extended warranty package called PentaCare on the Harrier. It could cost about Rs. 25,000.

The Tata Harrier was launched in January 2019 and ever since BHPians have been reporting various issues in their cars. In fact, the test car provided by Tata for our official review also has quite a few niggles. It felt like an unfinished product that still had several rough edges that needed sorting out. Therefore, we think this extended warranty is totally worth it.

The Harrier is facing tough competition from the Kia Seltos and MG Hector. Therefore, to boost sales, Tata Motors is said to be launching new schemes, which could include an exchange bonus of Rs. 35,000, a corporate discount of Rs. 15,000, 100% on-road finance and EMI plan of Rs. 24,000 per month.

The carmaker is also coming up with a major print campaign in Sept-Oct to promote the Harrier.

There is a reason for this = Harrier sales have tanked to merely 635 units in August and it is already on ventilator support (source). This at a time when other new launches like the Hector & Seltos are raking in the moolah. Worse still, despite the low production numbers, I'm hearing of dealers sitting on unsold stock.

I have two points to say here:

1. What Tata should have done is launch a perfectly sorted product (whichever Harrier I've driven has felt like a "beta" version), an automatic gearbox (not offering this was really stupid) and a petrol MT / AT (like the competition). Tata has destroyed the reputation of a car that had the potential to be truly great. Take a look at what owner Sai Eshwar Reddy has had to go through - link to post.

2. As a lover of warranties, I welcome this news of the 5 year / unlimited km warranty :thumbs up. It's all the more important for a niggle-laden product like the Harrier.

Tata will surely get the Harrier right, but it'll be two years too late in 2021. The company has created the perfect storm for the Harrier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 4652387)
1. What Tata should have done is launch a perfectly sorted product (whichever Harrier I've driven has felt like a "beta" version), an automatic gearbox (not offering this was really stupid) and a petrol MT / AT (like the competition). Tata has destroyed the reputation of a car that had the potential to be truly great. Take a look at what owner Sai Eshwar Reddy has had to go through - link to post.

Don't know what's wrong with Tata Motors, though they are trying hard to come out of the niggles and bad a.s.s image they are failing at it, it's disheartening for a Tata appreciator like me. All I can understand is, it needs an attitude change throughout the company from top level management to shop-floor workers and sales & service executives, which is a tough ask as old habits die hard. It isn't possible until all the stubborn personnel in the company are replaced with someone who is willing to align with the company needs.

Autobox will definitely help increase the numbers as more and more city dwellers are preferring automatics owing to increasing traffic congestions in the cities.

Quote:

2. As a lover of warranties, I welcome this news of the 5 year / unlimited km warranty :thumbs up. It's all the more important for a niggle-laden product like the Harrier.
Despite being relatively new in the market MG is gliding smoothly because of the backing of warranties and other such assurances which eliminate the consumer's fear regarding new entrants. Though late, Tata applied the same formula here which is much needed for Harrier.
Quote:

Tata will surely get the Harrier right, but it'll be two years too late in 2021. The company has created the perfect storm for the Harrier.
But it will be of no help to Tata as the launch time storm will subside/die by then. Many buyers in the segment wouldn't even consider the product by then, though the niggles are sorted out over time the negative image wouldn't go away that easily. Case in point, Tata Nano improved a lot since its introduction to its discontinuation, but still it failed to be in the segment buyers' consideration due to initial its issues/niggles. Otherwise its a wonderful city car, I'm having one, I'm loving it.

Looks like Tata Motors and its problems are in a never ending relationship!

I was wondering.. given three digit sales figure for a new product that was expected to create a storm in the market -

1. Will auto gearbox help revive sales. If yes, by how much and for how long?
- Even the auto gearbox Harrier will come with niggles!?

2. The 7 seat version (Cassini / Buzzard) looks very much like the Harrier (except the D pillar). Will poor reputation on Harrier hurt the 7 seat version too? What options will Tata Motors have then?

3. The supposed i20 killer Altroz - what if (there is a chance!) the market does not receive it as well as we expect or Tata Motors expect. What if it fails?

This will leave Tata Motors in a very tricky position. All products with new design language from Tata Motors, which was supposed to revive the brand will not help Tata Motors. What next?

Even Tata got carried away with the looks of the vehicle :)

I feel Tata is trying to capture the wrong end of the sales chart, they should ideally be going after where they are now successful - Hatchbacks and Sub 4M SUV, invest more in refreshing these two models, launch new products along side to take on the Baleno & the i20 , Creta etc.

For me, Tata even after all these years is still a gamble. They might have brought in a lot of changes and improved upon the product quality by reducing the number of vendors et. al. yet the final product off the assembly line, the sales experience and the after sales leave a lot to be desired.

Harrier is an unsorted product (basis my discussions with two owners as both of them paid nearly 4 - 5 visits to service centres from purchase until now for fixing issues) and a lot more is expected in terms of making it "aspirational". To me it seems that Tata's design team does not gather enough market intelligence during product development resulting in finalizing the product that is not able to compete / beat the competition.

Its painful for both manufacturer as well as user / owner of the car !

Extended warranty, though is welcome as I would buy it from all manufacturers but Harrier does not give me confidence as a SUV at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 4652387)
Tata has destroyed the reputation of a car that had the potential to be truly great. Take a look at what owner Sai Eshwar Reddy has had to go through.

2. As a lover of warranties, I welcome this news of the 5 year / unlimited km warranty :thumbs up. It's all the more important for a niggle-laden product like the Harrier.

Perfectly summed up. The kind of response that the Harrier had gathered at time of launch was unprecedented in our country. People literally flocked to the showrooms to check the car with many having pre-booked a 15L+ Tata car without even seeing one physically (including me). Only TATA could have let go of such a gigantic wave of success by just releasing a half baked product into the market.

The 5 year warranty is a welcome move. But warranties are supposed to be an added insurance sort of a thing. No one would want to keep visiting the ASS again and again for quality issues as listed out by Sai Eshwar Reddy in that post. That is just unacceptable from a 20L Rs car.

Tata Motors really messed up the Harrier. A properly sorted V2 with a competent auto box is imperative to allow it to sustain in the market.

Tata Motors is in general just a colossal mess. Their dealer experience is by far the worst I have ever experienced. They have a Hexa available at their dealer yard which I asked them to bring to the showroom so that I can inspect it before paying the booking amount. For the last one week, the sales executive for the Hexa is sick and there is no replacement. Hence, no one knows that I am waiting for the car. The showroom manager doesn't answer the phone and finally yesterday I got an SMS saying that the car will be available for inspection at 5:30PM. When I reached the showroom, no one knew anything about the car. I was then told to come back later in the evening. I went back at 7:30 and the car was still not there. I called the manager and he didn't answer and hasn't bothered to call back as yet.
Now, when I escalated things at Tata Motors through contacts I got a call from a two sales reps at two different Concorde branches in Pune and neither of them knows where the car is. :Frustrati
With such a dealer experience, I am not sure how a 5 year warranty is going to help the Harrier. The Harrier is not even as good a product as the Hexa and if they can't sell the Hexa then the Harrier is as good as dead. They didn't even have a Harrier on display last evening. God help them!

This Extended Warranty is welcome but the damage has already been done! Harrier is a missed opportunity for Tata, inspite of it being among the better looking SUVs on our roads. It wasn't overpriced either, pricing was quite fair at launch.

Hope they will be able turn the things around. A little bit of oversight in quality check almost killed a product that was supposed to change the brand perception. It seems that they took it seriously. That must be the reason why altroz launch is delayed. They cannot afford to repeat the mistake

@ Ajay_Sensei

I doubt what you have said has any merit. A newly developed product with a FIAT sourced engine cannot carry a price tag of 9.99 Lac. Kia enjoys the 1.5 Litre diesel engine (tax benefit) for making a diesel base model offer at a subsidized price below 10 Lac magical barrier. With a 2 litre royalty paid engine, it cannot happen with Harrier when it falls in a higher tax bracket.

I know a higher up in Kia and he confirmed that diesel base model will not give them any money at all. Its just cost-to-cost transfer with a minor dealer margin.

Has the steering issue been resolved in the new Harriers coming to the market or does it still persist?

Just going through the various threads on Team BHP, it feels as if the people out in the world want Tata Motors to succeed. But Tata themselves are hell bent on preventing this from happening.

If Tata can provide same levels of quality in the Harrier as that of a Rs 5 lakh Santro, it will sell more than 2000 copies per month easily.

Black Edition, White Edition, this scheme that scheme is all un-necessary.

There is only one scheme for success - Quality.


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