Tata Motors will officially reveal the new Safari SUV later this month
Tata Motors recently dropped the big news, that it will be reviving its iconic Safari moniker by renaming the upcoming Gravitas SUV. Apparently, the name Gravitas was just an internal codename attached to Harrier’s bigger sibling by the company.
Tata Motors through a video has confirmed that the upcoming seven-seater Harrier will be named Safari. A few days ago, the carmaker shared a video on social media showing the legacy of Safari over the years.
New Safari Spy Shots
The SUV is slated to make its debut later this month. Amidst this development, the upcoming SUV continues its pre-launch road tests. The latest images are courtesy automotive enthusiast Rakshith which were clicked somewhere around Pune recently.
The model made its first official appearance in India at last year’s AutoExpo and was evidently referred to as an elongated Harrier since it carries the same exterior styling and more importantly will share the same mechanicals and powertrains. However, the SUV made its first public appearance at the Geneva Motor Show in 2019. At that time it was named Tata Buzzard.
Details of Safari
On being compared with Harrier, it is clear that the upcoming Safari is a three-row derivative of the former. The new Safari will be 63mm longer and 80mm taller than its smaller sibling although both will offer the same wheelbase of 2741 mm. In terms of its styling, the new Safari will be identical to Harrier up till the C-pillar. Moving towards the rear, it gets a uniquely designed stepped-up roof and a longer rear overhang in order to accommodate a third row of passengers.
At front, it gets a similar butch looking face with blacked-out front grille, projector headlamps and slim LED DRLs above. It flaunts a muscular front bumper and a high bonnet. At rear, it will sport a pair of redesigned LED tail-lamps.
Additionally, it will roll on a set of freshly designed alloy wheels. Inside the cabin, it is expected to receive a revised dashboard layout with a different interior colour scheme and added features. Some notable highlights expected to feature are ivory coloured upholstery for the seats, door pads and an electronic parking brake with a hold function.
As we already know, Safari will be underpinned by Tata Motors’ OMEGA platform which also forms the base for Harrier and is expected to come in both six and seven-seat configuration. It is expected to borrow several exterior colour options from Harrier which include Atlas Green, Calypso Red, Telesto Grey, Orcus White and Majesto Camo Green.
Expected Powertrains, Price
Coming to its powertrain spec, it is expected to draw its power from a 2.0-litre Kryotec diesel engine sourced from Fiat which produces 168 bhp and 350 Nm of peak torque. This unit could be paired with either a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic transmission. One can expect it to be priced between Rs 15- Rs 20 lakh and is likely to rival the likes of MG Hector Plus and the upcoming Mahindra XUV500 and Hyundai Alcazar.
