This is also the first time Harrier monthly sales has crossed the 3,000 mark since it was launched back in Jan 2019
Tata Harrier, which had been commanding the mid-size SUV segment since launch in January 2019, soon found able competition from the Hector. MG Motor India launched Hector SUV, its first product in the Indian market in June 2019. Soon after the launch of Hector, sales of Tata harrier started to decline.
In 2019, despite of Harrier launching first, and Hector launching almost 6 months later – Tata lost to MG by a margin of 703 units in the segment. Year 2020 was even worse. Tata sold 14k units of Harrier while MG Hector sales were almost double at 26k.
Tata’s Comeback
Year 2021 has seen a complete turn-around. But the seeds for turn-around were sown at the start of 2020. In Jan 2020, Tata Motors launched updated Harrier. But that failed to show immediate effect on sales as the world went into lockdown due to Covid-19.
Tata had started posting higher sales of Harrier post lockdown. As the country opened for business, there was a huge demand for passenger cars. Anti-China sentiments and renewed sense among consumers to buy products from Indian brands may have played a role as well.
From selling Harrier in triple digits, Tata soon started selling Harrier in 4 digits every month. Feb 2021 saw the start of Tata Safari production. Ever since, Tata has not looked back. It has led the race against MG Motor in the segment by a huge margin in 2021.
Leading Since April 2021
It was from April 2021 that Harrier + Safari sales have kept exceeding that of MG Hector and Hector Plus. Total sales of Harrier (1,712 units) and Safari (1,514 units) stood at 3,226 units in April 2021 while Hector and Hector Plus sales were at 2,147 units, a difference of 1,079 units or 52.26 percent.
This trend continued in every month thereafter, while sales of the Harrier + Safari have seen even better results in August, September and October 2021. In October 2021, sales of Harrier (3,097 units) and Safari (1,735 units) took total sales to 4,832 units. This was a 2,354 unit difference between 2,478 units of MG Hector and Hector Plus sold in the same month. This was also the month when Harrier posted its highest ever monthly sales till date.
Till Oct 2021 Harrier + Safari sales stood at 38,650 units, as against 29,806 units of MG Hector and Hector Plus sold during the same period in 2021, a difference of 8,844 units. Total sales to date have however seen that of Hector and Hector Plus (71,671 units) scale over that of Tata Harrier and Safari (67,948 units) by 3,723 units.
Price Difference
Each of these competitors are in the mid-size SUV segments. The Harrier is priced from Rs 13.99-20.45 lakh while Safari 6/7 seater price ranges from Rs 14.70-21.46 lakh. MG Hector on the other hand is priced from Rs 13.35-19.43 lakh while the Hector Plus is in a range of Rs 17.50-19.61 lakhs.
There is now a new rival, in the form of Mahindra XUV700. For Oct 2021, it was the XUV700 which registered highest sales of 3,407 units. XUV700 already has an order book of 70k. With chips shortage expected to end next year, it will be interesting to see how these new SUVs in the segment perform against each other in the coming months of 2022.
