While XE variant is priced at 12.69 lakh, Tata Harrier XM will cost 13.75 lakh. The XT variant is priced at Rs 14.95 lakh and XZ costs Rs 16.25 lakh.
After a four-year development schedule, Tata Motors today launched the Harrier, a premium sports utility vehicle with prices starting at Rs 12.69 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai).
Tata Motors is launching the five-seater Harrier in four — XE, XM, XT and XZ variants to begin with. The top-end variant is priced at Rs 16.25 lakh. The vehicle is powered by a Fiat-sourced diesel engine.
Though company officials are reluctant to position the SUV in any category, Harrier’s price band puts it in direct competition with the Mahindra XUV 500, Jeep Compass, Nissan Kicks, Hyundai Creta and the upcoming SUVs from Kia and MG Motors.
As per Mayank Pareek, president (passenger vehicle business unit), Tata Motors, there is presently a waiting period of three months on the Harrier. Bookings of the vehicle opened in October and deliveries have started with immediate effect.
Today’s Tata Harrier launch marks the beginning of the first of the 12-14 new models the company has in the pipeline over the next 3-4 years. These will be part of the two product architectures Alfa and Omega. New variations of SUVs including crossovers and premium hatchbacks will be launched by the company during this period.
In Pics | Tata Harrier and the SUVs that will go up against it
The segment of SUVs costing Rs 10-18 lakh is around 18,000 units a month with the market leader being Hyundai Creta clocking sales of 10,000-11,000 a month. Pareek declined to provide volume guidance for the Harrier.
"About 60-70 percent of Harrier buyers will go for the top-end version just like the trend in the segment. The entire SUV segment is 27 percent of the passenger vehicle market, while the compact SUV segment is 20 percent. With the launch of the Harrier we will be present in 60 percent of the PV market and our aim is to take it to 90 percent," added Pareek.
After a few months, Harrier will get a seven-seater version, along with a more powerful variant of the engine. It will then position itself directly against the Mahindra XUV 500 which is a seven-seater. An automatic gearbox option will also be made available in 2019-20.
The Harrier comes powered a 2.0 litre turbo-charged, four cylinder engine mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox. It generates peak power of 140ps and a torque of 350nm. It comes with three driving modes – Eco, Sports and City.
The Harrier has the biggest of dimensions compared to its rivals. The vehicle is longer and wider and has the longest wheelbase in its class. The company has made the car feature-rich to appeal to the new generation of buyers.
A nine-speaker Harman music system, 8.8 inch display, voice recognition, voice alerts, are some of the features that the company hopes would become a deciding factor for car buyers. In addition there are more than dozen safety features embedded in the Harrier including 6 airbags, traction control, ABS with EBD,
Tata Motors, through its dealers, have hired 800 personnel to manage sales and marketing activities across its 780 dealerships. These people are trained separately for handling customers of the Harrier following three months training. Tata Motors aims to rapidly expand its retail reach to 2000 dealership by 2021.
