Tata Motors seems to discontinue these trims due to low demand and making room for more profitable and in-demand products
Tata Motors lost the No 2 position to Hyundai in June 2022 sales. Launch of new Venue facelift has helped Hyundai create a considerable gap between them and Tata last month. Hyundai also has plans to launch new Tucson and Creta facelift later this year.
Tata on the other hand, seems to have no new cars planned for launch this year. Their next big launch is expected at the 2023 Auto Expo, in the form of Harrier and Safari facelift with petrol and diesel engine option. In the meantime, Tata has rejigged the variant line-up of Nexon and Tiago once again.
Tata Nexon, Tiago Variants Discontinued July 2022
Tata Motors is discontinuing XZ trims on popular vehicles like Nexon SUV. It is also discontinuing XZ and XZA trims of Tiago Hatchback. It might seem illogical at first glance as XZ variants promised to offer a decent balance between mid-spec XT and top-spec XZ Plus trims. But Tata Motors is a corporate company and has raw data and analytics, car-buying trend reports and every other data they need to make an informed decision. If they are doing it, they have a reason. Let’s try to understand the possible reason behind this decision.
Tata Nexon is currently the highest-selling SUV in India. To drive the sales further, Tata Motors introduced the XM (S) variant offering a sunroof, rain-sensing wipers and automatic headlights. Even though XZ gets more logical and value-added features, they’re not as trendy as a sunroof. Sunroofs can beat everything in India. They can even make or break a product too. Adding salt to the wound, XM (S) costs Rs. 50,000 less than XZ too.
Looking at the XZ Plus variant, it gets a plethora of features over XZ for just Rs. 58,000. Features like keyless entry, push-button start, automatic climate control, two 12V power outlets, driver seat height adjust, adjustable headrest for rear passengers, rear armrest, front driver armrest, 60:40 split seats, driver window one-touch function, rear defogger and wiper, rear fog lights, and 16” alloy wheels with 215 section tyres over 16” steel wheels with skinny 195 section tyres of XZ. All these logical upgrades for just Rs. 58,000 more. It looks like people wanting trendy features went with XM (S) and people wanting logical upgrades went with XZ Plus. While XZ became a middle child that didn’t appeal to customers.
Tata Tiago XZ, XZA Discontinued
Tiago XZ sits between XT and XZ Plus trims. For Rs. 43,000 over XZ, XZ Plus can be had. If we look at the feature upgrades, it seems to be worth the money. XZ Plus gets automatic climate control, a reverse camera, dual-tone black & beige upholstery, LED DRLs, projector headlights, and 15” alloy wheels instead of 14” steel wheels on XZ.
With the Tiago XZ however, it is not that simple. Because a lot of value-added trims like XE CNG, XM CNG and XTA (automatic transmission) coincide with XZ’s pricing. XE CNG and XM CNG offer very low running costs too. The same goes with XZA trim too. A lot of other Tiago trims with more value like XT CNG and XZ Plus are cheaper than XZA.
Due to the factors mentioned above, it is likely that Tata didn’t receive as many bookings of XZ and XZA variants of Tiago and XZ variant of Nexon. Hence Tata is pulling the plug on these variants making room to increase production of variants that are actually in demand. We have seen Hyundai take a similar step too when they discontinued diesel variants of Aura, i10 Grand Nios and completely pulled the plug on Santro to make more production for models and variants that are in demand and bring more profit.
