Gap between the sales volume of Tata and MG has been closing in since the launch of Safari
The mid-size SUV space in the Indian auto market has lots of offerings presently. Tata Motors and MG Motor are two most significant players in this segment with two models offered by each brand. The former offers Harrier and Safari while the latter has Hector and Hector Plus up its sleeves.
Both models of each brand are essentially twin siblings of each other with minute cosmetic variations in order to lend some distinction. The only major difference is the seating layout, while one offers a 5-seat layout, the other offers a three-seat layout. These four models are the closest rivals in the mid-size SUV space.
These SUVs have been pitted against their corresponding model from the other manufacturer constantly, especially when buyers are opting from a model in this segment. For most parts of it, MG has pipped Tata in terms of sales volume up till now. September 2021 was another instance when Harrier and Safari were able to beat the MG twins in monthly sales figures.
Hector/Plus beating Harrier/Safari in cumulative volume
In total, MG has sold 69,193 units of Hector twins up until now as opposed to Tata which has dispatched a total of 63,116 units of Harrier and Safari combined. The difference stands at 6,077 units and this mainly has to do with different launch timelines of different models. The first SUV launched among the four models was Harrier when it hit markets in January 2019.
For the next six months, Harrier had no direct rival until MG introduced Hector to the market in July 2019. Surprisingly, despite being on sale for six months more than Hector, Harrier came in second to the SUV of the British brand with Hector raking a volume of 15,930 units and Harrier registering a volume of 15,227 units. The difference stood at 703 units in favour of Hector.
This was primarily because, for almost the same amount of money, Hector offered a lot in terms of creature comforts and was a more value-for-money package in comparison to Harrier. Another critical aspect in favour of Hector was that it was offered in diesel and petrol powertrain options whereas Tata offered only a single oil burner with Harrier. Petrolheads looking for an SUV in this space naturally tilted towards Hector.
Tata gets competitive – Harrier Sales 50k
The same was the case in CY2020 when MG clearly outclassed Tata with an even bigger margin. This had to do with the fact that by the middle of 2020, the Chinese-owned British carmaker had launched Hector’s twin sibling- Hector Plus as a six-seater SUV. While MG recorded a volume of 25,935 units throughout the year, Tata sold only 14,071 units of Harrier. The difference in sales volume stood at 11,863 units.
Figures started to get closer with the launch of Tata Safari in February earlier this year which is a three-row derivative of Harrier. The homegrown carmaker has dispatched 33,818 of Harrier and Safari combined which is 6,490 units more than the sales volume registered by MG twins. Since April this year, Tata has been beating MG in its monthly sales volume every month. Harrier SUV has crossed the 50,000 sales milestone in Oct 2021.
