Upcoming Tata small SUV to Rival Hyundai Creta and Renault Captur
In a move to strengthen its SUV portfolio, Tata has announced that the company is developing a small SUV that is slated to launch next year. The news comes in after the success Nexon compact SUV has had in the Indian market. Tata is planning to launch a full-size SUV by 2019 which would be slated above the Hexa. Currently Tata’s absent in the small SUV segment which has seen exponential growth in the last year alone. The upcoming Tata small SUV will rival the Hyundai Creta and Renault Captur.
Upcoming Tata Cars | Tata at Auto Expo 2018
Tata will be pricing the new small SUV right between the Nexon and the Hexa and hopes to compete with the segment leader i.e. Hyundai Creta which clocks approx 10,000 units a month along with the newly launched five seaters by Renault namely the Captur. The small SUV market sits right above the 4-meter mark and current products ruling the segment are Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Tata Nexon, Ford Ecosport, Mahindra TUV 300 and KUV 300.
Also read – Tata planning to assemble more JLR SUVs in India.
As per market sources, the upcoming small SUV from Tata is to be slated right in the middle of Nexon and the Hexa. The Nexon range starts at INR 5.85 lakh and the Hexa range starts at INR 11.72 Lakh, so the upcoming SUV range is expected to start around INR 9 lakh.
Also read – Tata planning to launch full-size SUV by 2019
Tata started the small to mid-size SUV segment back in the 1990s with the launch of the Sierra and the Safari but, with strong competition coming in from Mahindra and Mahindra with the Scorpio, the company couldn’t remain the top of the leadership board. This further strengthened the market in favour of the latter and crowned it the biggest player in the utility vehicle segment. The main reason for this being Tata’s lethargic approach in terms of refreshing current model or launching new ones. The company still suffers from a similar issue as the Safari Storme’s launch was delayed by three years.
The upcoming Tata small SUV will be followed by a full-size SUV in 2019 which would carry a price tag of about INR 20 Lakh and is going to compete directly with the Jeep Compass and indirectly with the seven-seater premium SUVs like the Fortuner, Rexton, Endeavour and the recently launched Kodiaq with Tata’s SUV possessing better value for money equation.
