[octane_100]

If I were Tata and was looking at market share (which they should be!), I would bring in the Buzzard at the same price point the Harrier is at today and take Harrier half a notch down. With MG and Seltos in the game, Tata has left itself no choice but to discount the Harrier from its current positioning.

[Vmv]

Originally Posted by ram87pune

.

The Hexa will continue for the time being because senior Tata officials are of the opinion that the Hexa beats the Harrier twins hands down when it comes to ride quality, seat comfort,value for money etc. This opinion was formed after customers started cross shopping the Hexa when they actually had gone to the showroom to checkout the Harrier. The BS6 engine development for the Hexa is in full swing and will be launched next year.

but love to hear that Hexa will continue.
If they improve market and manufacturing strategy for the 3 cars , they all can make around 5000 to 8000 units per month. Which is excellent numbers for TATA

[Avenger_123]

Originally Posted by octane_100

If I were Tata and was looking at market share (which they should be!), I would bring in the Buzzard at the same price point the Harrier is at today and take Harrier half a notch down. With MG and Seltos in the game, Tata has left itself no choice but to discount the Harrier from its current positioning.

In my opinion, Tata has there work cut out. With better packages from MG and Kia, it will be extremely difficult to get customer attention apart from the pricing. They absolutely need to get premium, spacious and functional interiors, also things like Panoramic sunroof right. Tata already doesn't have a great brand recall or premium and their customers will be first to look elsewhere.

Three-row SUV options are less currently in the market, and if they package it right there might be a chance. Hector 3 row will not be very spacious looking at pictures from similar products globally. Buzzard will be competing with new XUV 500 mainly and if Kia decides to launch bigger Seltos with 3 rows.

So I feel Buzzard overall has a lesser competition vs the Hector, but again packaging has to be spot on which Tata has generally struggled. May be throw in 5 year warranty as MG to get trust back. Bottomline all groups in Tata need to come together for the product to be successful.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Avenger_123

Three-row SUV options are less currently in the market, and if they package it right there might be a chance.

The packaging was already revealed at the Geneva Motor Show.

https://youtu.be/jKEiaFNMhHY

[padmrajravi]

Originally Posted by ram87pune

Hello nainan. Like I have mentioned in the Harrier thread earlier, the cost of the LR platform was a huge disadvantage for Tata while designing the Harrier. Because of this they did not give an independent rear suspension, rear disc brakes,4WD etc.

Oh God, That is as bad as it can get. Without AWD, Hexa will tower over Harrier brothers. If only they could get the looks of Aria right the first time. It feels like even after a decade, the ghost of Aria is still haunting them. If they are sticking with Hexa , then they should atleast bring that AWD Auto combination.

As a Hexa owner , I would hate to see Hexa discontinued. But I had feeling that investing everything in Harrier brothers and discontinuing or diluting Hexa would have been a logical business decision. Harrier twins were a make or break effort for TML as a company. I can't believe they would hesitate to invest everything they have at that effort.

[RavenAvi]

Caught by P. Bala on the streets of Chennai recently.

[giri1.8]

Not having enough seats was never Harrier's problem! Tata seems to have hard time understanding Indian customer's pulse. Tiago and Nexon were spot-on in terms of VFM and product placement, Harrier seems to be in no man's land with no real USP just like my Tigor. Only way for this car to succeed is to price is close to Hexa, which is never going to happen.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Caught by P. Bala on the streets of Chennai recently.

I have tried a lot for all these months, but somehow I'm not able to like that outward protruding rear spoiler. Doesn't seem right somehow. Not sure what's wrong in it, but not liking it.

[thesilentone]

With all the good cars from Tata not finding sufficient traction in the market, I feel that Tata should launch a totally new brand for the cars division and say 'Tata' to the age old Tata name. I know that it is sacrilege to suggest this, but a lot of buyers, myself included, having owned two erstwhile Indicas earlier am not in the least inclined to even consider the brand however good the car might be. I am sure there would be a lot of buyers in the same boat since for most people buying a higher end car is a status symbol and the name of the brand counts in equal measure to the quality & capability of the vehicle.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by thesilentone

With all the good cars from Tata not finding sufficient traction in the market, I feel that Tata should launch a totally new brand for the cars division and say 'Tata' to the age old Tata name. I know that it is sacrilege to suggest this, but a lot of buyers, myself included, having owned two erstwhile Indicas earlier am not in the least inclined to even consider the brand however good the car might be. I am sure there would be a lot of buyers in the same boat since for most people buying a higher end car is a status symbol and the name of the brand counts in equal measure to the quality & capability of the vehicle.

And changing the name won't result in "Ah, that's just Tata, they changed name that's all. Nothing else." ?

I feel they need to keep on working hard(er) to improve the customer experience. What is lacking is the finesse & professional approach of their sales & service staff. The service is good at most places, but the overall engagement experience that a high profile premium customer for Hexa gets at showroom or service station, is not upto the mark. Its quite pedestrian. The customer facing staff needs a LOT of behavioral and cultural sensitivity training to be given, and for quite a lot of time.

As of now, most of the customer facing staff come across as if this was the last thing they wanted to do in life. Changing brand name won't change that.

[SpideyBoy]

Tata should start thinking out of the box here, be it marketing or better packaging or customer experience (including after sales). They have the best elegant design with Harrier, not a bad overall product either except for a few niggles and still it's suffering from the competition. I foresee this 7 seater going the same direction too. I say that because they have tough competition lined up exactly like when Harrier was launched, MG and Kia brought their feature packed vehicles with killer prices and stealing the thunder from the Harrier. Now we have bigger Creta also coming up sooner, I wish Tata comes up fully prepared with this car unlike Harrier. Competition has all the bling and very soon this would look outdated in terms of features if it doesn't come all guns blazing. Just my two cents worth.

[Storm2.0]

Tata should launch the Cassini/Buzzard with electronic seat controls for the rear passenger seats(the touch panel ones ) which they displayed on their concept version of Harrier in Delhi Auto Expo 2018. I'm sure it'll serve as good differentiating factor when compared to the Chinese and the Korean gang out there.
Indian audience needs only bling (which should work reliably of course) even if that feature doesn't has any utility.
Eg: how sunroofs have become a rage in C2 sedan/ compact suv segments in India.

[coolkurt]

The 7 seater variant may get small ORVMs

The new Tata Harrier 7 seater SUV was recently spied on test on the Mumbai – Pune Expressway. This test mule was seemingly wearing smaller sized ORVMs, as compared to what we have seen on the earlier spy shots of the Harrier 7 seater or the existing Harrier 5 seater.

There have been cases where Tata Harrier owners have given feedback to the carmaker regarding the massive size of the outside rear view mirrors (ORVM). No doubt that these large ORVMs accentuate the overall design of the SUV, but it also creates huge blind spots for the driver, in certain scenarios.

It is possible that Tata Motors has taken this feedback, and are planning on making the ORVMs slightly smaller in size. This would reduce the large blind spots and give drivers a better visibility. Attached is a photo which compares the two different Harrier 7 seater test mules, wearing seemingly different sized / design ORVMs.

Source

[Nithesh_M]

I had no issues with the large Rear view mirror on the Harrier. It accentuated the design. This jugaad seems like an afterthought design wise.

[fhdowntheline]

Really dont know if TML is looking at the impact of the Hector while ignoring their own SUV DNA. They should be having an AWD option in the new platfiom. Heck, the XUV has had it for years now, never mind if the actual AWD sales are a trickle. At least it helps in the positioning.