New Tata Safari will lock horns with MG Hector Plus, Mahindra XUV500 and upcoming seven-seater Hyundai Creta
With its official launch yet impending, the all-new Tata Safari has already managed to hit the right chords with its potential consumers. The SUV has also been the figment of imagination of designers in various avatars. One sore point for the upcoming SUV is that it doesn’t offer a 4×4 or AWD as an option even though it carries a nameplate of ‘Safari’.
This has led car designers to imagine the SUV as a fully capable off-roader in their drawing boards at least. However, the latest example takes it a notch higher and presents the new Safari as a lifestyle pickup truck with a 4×4 drivetrain. Designed by Aayush Dubey, this rendered SUV is seen sporting a host of digital off-road modifications.
Updated Exterior Design
For starters, at its front end it gets a heavy-duty skid plate below a customised off-road-spec bumper. The bumper gets integrated fog lights. Its face remains identical to the stock Safari with the same grille and split headlight setup with LED DRLs. It receives a thicker plastic cladding on its wheel arches along with new alloy wheel designs wrapped around by knobbier dual-purpose tyres.
We see major updates as we move towards the rear. The biggest change is the third row seat has been removed as the cabin has been shortened to make room for a rear luggage tray. A pair of bed bars have also been added at rear which gives it a muscular look. There are a few other subtle details worth mentioning such as black roof rails which are just used showpieces and a pair of grab handles on the bonnet.
The pickup truck’s front bumper, tyres, wheels and tailgate seemed to have been inspired from Ford Ranger Raptor. Overall, the new Safari does well to wear attire of a pickup truck that suits its aesthetics. We dearly wished for a production-spec version of this Safari which would truly justify its name, however, it is a dream far from reality.
Tata Safari Specs
2021 Safari is essentially a slightly longer version of Tata Harrier with an extra row of seats. New Safari will be offered in both 6-seat and 7-seat configurations and is 63mm longer and 80mm taller than its smaller sibling. To give these numbers a perspective, latest iPhone 12 Mini is 64 mm wide.
Safari is based on the same OMEGARC platform underpinning Harrier which has been derived from Land Rover’s D8 architecture. It will draw its power from a 2.0-litre Kryotec diesel unit sourced from FCA which returns an output of 168 bhp and 350 Nm of peak torque. It will be mated to either a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic gearbox.
Tata Motors has recently started accepting bookings for the three-row SUV at a token amount of Rs 30,000. Prices of the upcoming SUV will be revealed on the day of its launch on February 22. We expect it to be priced between Rs 15.00 lakh and Rs 22.00 lakh (both prices ex-showroom).
