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-   -   Going forward, all 4x4 cars from Tata Motors will be branded 'Safari Edition' (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/219109-going-forward-all-4x4-cars-tata-motors-will-branded-safari-edition.html)

Source: ElectricVehicleWeb

They need to give us a BS-VI Safari Storme "Safari" edition first!

Does this imply slim chances for the iconic Safari brand name to be revived for some future offering? If yes, that's sad news.

I shouldn't have opened this thread...The title was giving enough hint not to. Still - when you see "Safari" you click! And now I pay the price by heading into the weekend with horrible depression.
(Seems a very redundant news anyway considering there is no hint of any upcoming 4x4 or even AWD vehicle from this marque.)

Why?

So I guess Tata is giving feelers that it's the end of the road for the Safari monicker. And in that sense, the Hexa too would be the final body on frame UV from the stable to be sold, which would end it's run in 2023. Makes sense since the PV division is not performing exceptionally and is cash strapped. Sad, considering I was looking forward to a brand new gen Safari, taking the Hexa's toughness and Harrier's looks into consideration.

So now Tata fans will have to look forward to or rather wait for AWD versions of Harrier, Gravitas (which haven't been planned) and maybe the Sierra electric, with Safari edition badging. That would be more of a consolation rather than having a real Safari at hand.

Safari then becomes some kind of sub-brand for TML like Tralhawk and AMG. It is not good news. Not bad news either. The kind of news which gives you those confusing emotions. I didn't expect a Safari come back in the near future anyway. So this may be just to keep the brand alive till they come up with something which deserves the name.

BS6 Safari Storme may not make sense to them since a Safari without dashboard changes to accommodate the touch screen and other bits will bomb. You cannot fight Creta sisters and MG without touch screens. Even with changes, it is unlikely for Safari to sell in the 1000s. So make sense to retire it and come back to it later when they have a proper 4x4 architecture again.

The Safari brand has a legion of followers and admirers. But for the product, regardless of how outdated it had become. Not for the text. Tata can milk the brand some more but they'll be kidding themselves if they hope to pull customers in looking at a "Safari edition".

The Safari stood to become an aspiration in India, given the spectacular marketing. Using this name for a vehicle just because it has 4WD/AWD is marketing sacrilege. :)

So there goes the Safari brand down the...

All upcoming 4X4 vehicles from Tata?

Alfa arc cant have AWD.
Omega arc can have, but Tata won't give it.

So it just leaves Hexa as the lone 4X4, AWD, 4WD...in the Tata stable.

Tata has truly given the budget end of BOF vehicle market to Mahindra in a silver platter. Sure, Mahindra had already taken the throne from Tata a decade ago. But there was a glimmer of hope that Tata would have 'Hexafied' the Safari or Sumo.

The optimist in me.
Sierra concept shown.
Safari name to be for 'all upcoming' vehicles.

That leaves Sumo brand.

Maybe an Ertiga rival on the Alfa platform will be given Sumo name:Frustrati

Isn't this something like the 'Range Rover' naming convention? Like, they've made it a sub brand (with cars like Evoque, Velar being branded as "Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar, etc), while the flagship SUV exists with the name itself?

I somehow feel that if they can use the Discovery sport platform for the Harrier and Gravitas, why can't they use the Discovery platform to give us a proper Safari "Safari" Edition?
As of right now if you see the Tata stable, there is no Halo car. Non. Not even the gravitas or the Hexa. Something other people aspire to. I am already having separation anxiety. Time and again i have found flaws in my storme to try and let go of it. And then time and again I have found excuses to keep it going on and on.

I have tried a Discovery. That could just be the perfect platform for a Safari. The platform. It has space, it has character. It's not bought by everyone buying in that price band.

Tata should seriously consider it.

This is like a restaurant having one very successful chicken dish.

Tons of people love it.

Then they take it off the menu.

Most of their other dishes don't quite have the same iconic fan following.

So they decide they'll just add the same masala from the discontinued chicken dish to every other dish that contains chicken.

That should make them all taste better... right? RIGHT?

This is what happens when everyone “wants” the SAFARI but no one will “pay” for it.

The day car enthusiasts speak more with their wallet and less with their keyboards, companies like Tata motors, Ford , Mahindra can do what we all clamour for.

It would be good if they can keep the name alive in some form or the other. Although a lot of people on the forum feel that the Safari is an iconic car (which it is), people in the age group of 20-25 today hardly know about the Safari. Most see the Scorpio and Fortuner as defacto SUVs. You can ask any person in this age group in any Indian town or village.

People like me grew up admiring the Safari advertisements, but those days are gone.

Tata knows this, and that is why they are perhaps creating a new sub-brand of capable vehicles with 4x4 with this name. After all, the people who are 20 now will buy cars like the Harrier and Hexa over the next 10 years. People who grew up with the Safari are more likely to be driven around or feel more comfortable in easier to drive hatchbacks as age increases.

I don't think the company backed the product, TATA themselves are ruining it's name. The product just won't sell because it has a magic ride, the same happened with Duster. They could learn a thing or two from Mahindra on how to sell a decade old product by getting him some new clothes and teaching him new party tricks, there is a reason the Scorpio still sells like hot cake and the legendary Safari was struggling to the point that they had to pull the plug on life support.

I agree. They treated the Safari for a decade, just like they treated the Harrier initially. Expected the featureless Safari to sell in a market where feature requirements are being dictated by customers. Mahindra regularly made decent efforts to update the Scorpio. Makes me wonder if they gave the Safari the cold shoulder just to promote the Hexa.

Add to this, I don't know how Mahindra treat their premium customers, but in my short experience, Tata still seem clueless on that front, for now.

And now Tata has another unwanted record in their name. A '-1' in the sales chart attributed to the Safari. At a time when it should be receiving a respectable, if not a grand farewell.