What the
Tata Hexa Concept can be
Let’s
start off by talking about what the Tata Hexa concept is. The Hexa concept was
launched in the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year in March 2015, and in
essence is a heavily facelifted Tata Aria.
The Tata Aria was launched in early 2010 and
was the first crossover SUV available in India, It was an extremely promising
car when it was launched as it offered a bucket load of features. It was one of
the first SUV’s in India to offer 4 wheel drive, ABS, ESP, 7 comfortable seats
and good boot space with all three rows of seats up. The cars biggest downfalls
were that it wasn’t the most visually pleasing car as its proportions were off
and the second thing was its price. At the a starting price of Rs.12 (ex-showroom)
lakh for the 4x2 and Rs.16 lakh for the top end 4x4 (ex-showroom) it was
beaten by its main rival the Mahindra XUV 500 by almost a Rs.3 lakh margin,
with the XUV 500 providing a longer feature list, better performance, more upmarket
feel and being overall more desirable. Personally too when I saw both cars for
the first time I fell in love with the XUV 500 as it was just so different from
anything else on the road. According to me it almost single handedly revamped
the entire segment luring more buyers and sellers to this specific segment
which had become stagnant prior to the entry of this car. Even back then I knew
that the Tata Aria was the more practical choice but my heart desired the XUV
500.
This
time around Tata is coming prepared to take on its main rival, as on paper the
Hexa concept matches the Mahindra XUV 500 and improving on its rivals short
comings. The car looks heavily reworked as it has received a new and more menacing
front and rear end, massive 19 inch alloy wheels and black cladding to the
lower portion giving it a more masculine exterior all around.
The
interiors have also received a complete makeover. The car in Geneva was displayed
in a 6 seat format. The seats were wrapped in white leather and both the 1st
and 2nd row captain seats looked large and supportive, while the 3rd
row appears to have sufficient space for even regular adults. Moreover, with all
rows up there is a decent amount of boot space (enough to carry a few mid-sized
suitcases). The dash board looks well laid out with its 7 inch infotainment
screen and automatic climate control bellow it. The steering and dials looks
sporty and the steering appears to be borrowed from the Tata Zest. The overall quality
of the interiors looks premium and well put together.
Mechanically
also the Hexa concept looks like a well-rounded package as it sports a 2.2
liter, 4 cylinder, VARICOR diesel engine, that produces 154bhp and 400Nm of
torque. These figures look more than promising and include the fact that the
engine will be mated to a six speed manual gear box and will be offered with
4WD makes it a very desirable package all around.
This
car is rumored to be launched in India towards the end of 2015 or early 2016
and we have already started seeing spyshots of its test mules (links included below), online. When this
car is launched it will be going head to head with the newly facelifted
Mahindra XUV 500. In my opinion if this car manages to bring all the features
we have seen in the concept car and Tata manages to price the car competitively
it will finally be able to give its main rival the XUV 500 a run for its money
and make a name for itself in the sub Rs.20 lack segment. With this car Tata
can hope to capture both the minds and hearts of the buyers, as this still
remains the more practical car but with all the improvement it’s made it may
very well become as desirable and loved a car as its rival. Only time will tell
whether this car will live up to all it could be or be just another missed opportunity.
Links
to all the pictures:-
Spyshots (test mule) links:-
http://indianautosblog.com/2015/08/tata-hexa-caught-testing-for-the-first-time-187155
http://www.team-bhp.com/news/tata-hexa-test-mule-spotted-near-pune
