[ChiragM]

According to a leaked communication to its dealers, Tata Motors is said to have discontinued a few diesel variants of the Nexon SUV. These include the XE, XMA, XZ, and XZA+ (S) trims. Dealers are no longer accepting bookings for the same.



Tata has constantly been making small changes to the Nexon. Just last week, the SUV was updated with a new set of 5-spoke alloy wheels. The updated models have now started reaching the dealerships. Similarly, Tata Motors also updated the interiors of the Nexon last month by deleting the physical buttons and knobs on the centre console. These functions have now been integrated into the 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system. Along with this, Tata Motors has also discontinued the Tectonic Blue colour from the Nexon.

The crossover is powered by a 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine that produces 118 BHP and 170 Nm and a 1.5-litre diesel with 108 BHP and 260 Nm. Transmission options include a 6-speed manual and 6-speed AMT.

Thanks to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent this in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

Link to Team-BHP News

[jithin23]

This is not a good trend. Tata is following the Ford way by adding features and then removing them silently and now discontinuing variants. The nexon is their bread and butter model and the USP was the presence of safety features right from the base variant and the variety of variants available.

[CEF_Beasts]

Last I remember there were 36 variants in total, must have been very cumbersome for the SA to remember what is different in each.

Tata has unnecessarily complicated the entire variant line-up with the sub variants like S, Plus, Plus(O), then single tone and dual tone along with them!

[gkveda]

This is one way to reduce the number of complaints and niggles in TATA cars.

Jokes apart, I think it is a good move by TATAs. The better strategy for any company when the products are unstable is, to stick to fewer models and stabilize them in terms of quality, sales and revenue.(I think it is called UNIQLO strategy model)

Once the quality is stabilized, use the same design to expand the product range.

I hope TATAs are going with above strategy.

All the best TATAs

[wheelguy]

Given the supply side and production issues due to pandemic, they must have taken this decision to ease the production planning. Their decision might be based on variant wise sales database, but it's a pretty bad one to remove these many variants at one go. Hope they bring the variants once the pandemic subsides.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by jithin23

This is not a good trend. Tata is following the Ford way by adding features and then removing them silently and now discontinuing variants. The nexon is their bread and butter model and the USP was the presence of safety features right from the base variant and the variety of variants available.

This is actually a good move IMO (Not the feature deletion, but Variant discontinuation). There were too many unnecessary variants in Nexon. This will make it easier for the customer and the salesman to understand and explain (respectively) the product. It might even help the manufacturing and QC team, as less variants= lesser inconsistencies.

[CarguyNish]

Tata themselves have messed up the variants of Nexon since the Facelift was launched last year. Don't understand the reason behind this.

IMO, the Nexon Lineup should have been like this

XM
XM+
XZ
XZA
XZ+
XZA+

3 variants with choice of Manual or AMT Gearbox. This according to me does Tata wonders because the best selling variant is the Top Spec while the XM Variant is very popular among those on a budget. Production team will be happy with this type of lineup.

Tata also adds features to existing variant and renames it as another new variant. That shouldn't happen. Instead, better option would be to add/delete that feature which is applicable to that particular variant.

Example - If XZ+ has Sunroof and if Tata wants to make Sunroof available on XZ, they should simply add it rather than creating new variant XZ(S)

I guess Honda is the brand which does this thing right, their lineup is very simple E/S/V/VX (Amaze), S/VX (WR-V), V/VX/ZX (Jazz & City).

[fhdowntheline]

The one BIG change that they should make for the Nexon is to equip it with a proper AT instead of the AMT. Even a CVT would do.

[wheelguy]

Not just Nexon, seems like they have discontinued few variants of Harrier Dark Edition also. Previously it used to come in XT, XZ, XZA, XT+, XZ+ and XZA+, but now available only in XT+, XZ+ and XZA+, dealers were asked to stop taking bookings for the remaining variants.

Came across this news on my Facebook wall, lost the source as I returned back to the app after closing it, couldn't find it again.

[quantobigboot]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

Not just Nexon, seems like they have discontinued few variants of Harrier Dark Edition also.

Yup it's official, Autocar has also reported this
https://www.autocarindia.com/car-new...of-only-421030

[nkrishnap]

Nexon and Altroz have too many variants to select from. I am not sure how much of each variant sells. TATA rationalising the variants is good but not by deleting features, rather reducing the number of variants.

A full A4 page pricelist for a car that has two engine options is way too much.

[GTO]

I'm all for trimming excessive variants and only retaining the ones that make sense. Look at Maruti; the Swift basically has a base (LXi), VXi (mid) and ZXi (top). And that's how it should be. But old habits die hard. Here's a post I made almost a decade ago:

Originally Posted by GTO

Tata is not only making its customers confused, but is looking confused itself. Get this:

Indica variants (All info from their website):

eXeta : 8 variants
Indica eV2 : 4 variants
Indica V2 N/A : 4 variants

Thus, you have a whopping 16 variants of the 15 year old Indica!

Indigo:

eCS : 9 variants across THREE different engine options

XL : 3 variants

In all, the ol' Indigo has 12 variants!

Manza

8 variants (the only sensibly positioned car here). 4 each for petrol & diesel.

Vista

TWELVE variants with FOUR engine options.

If I were a potential customer, I'd be sure as hell confused in a Tata showroom . I mean, seriously, does the Vista need FOUR engine options?

Meanwhile, Maruti keeps it simple. The Swift has 3 variants (entry, mid, top) for each of the two engines (petrol, diesel). The Swift & Dzire have sold 20,000 and 10,000 units respectively in some of the recent months.

I can just imagine the scene:

Tata Junior : Sir, our sales are down / flat in the last quarter
Tata Senior : Lets release some more engine options and variants. That should solve matters for sure.

The other manufacturer which comes to mind with more variants than required is Fiat. No surprise as Tata was handling its marketing.

Now, this thread announces even more VARIANTS . Tata should rename itself to VARIANT MOTORS.

[Marauder]

I agree that Tata should streamline their variants to make it easier for the customers and the sales representatives but this recent decision has deleted the base diesel and the cheapest automatic diesel in the Nexon range. It is unclear why this decision has been taken. I think the confusion is caused by the innumerable ‘Plus’, (O), S variants. It is great that Tata tries to offer multiple options to the customers, unlike Maruti which just offers 3 variants.

Tata just needs to make the variant differentiation easier to understand. They should stick to the following variant nomenclatures for all models:

1. XE

2. XM

3. XT

4. XZ

5. XZ+ should be used only if required in some models (maybe for the premium models)

This is easy to understand and provides a clear differentiation between each variant, instead of adding ‘S’ and ‘(O)’ variants which have a couple of extra features.

[VeluM]

One reason manufacturers may be tempted to add a new variant (with feature additions, usually) is to make sure that past owners do not feel short changed.

As a 2013 Rapid Elegance owner, my car has fewer features than even the current Rapid Ambition (mid model). In fact just a month after my purchase the Rapid was given another update with steering mounted controls and the projector headlights.

Another point of view. Tata does take it to extremes though. Kia is not much better IMHO, even post rationalisation.

[Chetan_Rao]

Tata made it simple starting with Bolt & Zest which had only three variants, XEntry, XMid & XTop, with A suffixed for automatics. Even the Hexa followed that at launch.

Then came the alphabet soup.