Why was Tata Safari discontinued in India?

The Tata Safari was discontinued from December 2019 but many SUV enthusiasts hope that it will have a relaunch with the BS6 engine. As the BS6 norms now come into play and Tata has no hint of the re-launch of the Safari. Well, let’s find out the reason behind the discontinuation of Tata Safari.

History

First, let’s take a brief overview of the history of Tata Safari. The first generation of the mid-sized SUV was launched back in 1998 and then after it got several updates from time to time. The latest Tata Safari was rebadged as Safari Storme and was launched in 2012. For more than a decade, it was considered the most powerful SUV.

Over time, the SUV did undergo various engine upgrades. The latest Storme model was equipped with a 2.2-litre diesel engine that had two states of tune 138 bhp/ 320 Nm and 154 bhp / 400 Nm. The gearbox was a 5-speed manual unit for lower tuned model and a 6-speed manual for the higher tuned model.

Now coming towards the blog’s topic which is we have to find the reasons for the discontinuation. The first reason is, of course, the features.

Features

Tata was understanding that including a lot of new features on the Tata Safari was technically not possible. It was missing on the touch-screen infotainment, panoramic sunroof, cruise control, automatic headlamps and wiper and some other fancy stuff. The interior design did also felt outdated.

But Tata Safari was outstanding at the offroad features such as the body on frame chassis, 4X4 drive mode, etc. The off-road features were a gem but are not in demand in current times. People were opting for a much sophisticated and modern looking SUV over the Safari. The ladder frame chassis which once gave the car its high ground clearance was not proving an obstacle to a provide good mileage.

Exterior Design / Looks

Now design is quite a subjective topic. The SUV offered old traditional boxy type design. The SUV had a pretty long bonnet. The driver in the vehicle also has to sit at a much higher level which cleared shows the full bonnet.

The SUV had a segment-leading length, due to its long length it was a bit struggle in city traffic. This might be also one of the reasons for poor sales. Although the tata Safari might not make a comeback but the Tata Sierra is coming back as an EV soon

Price Tag

The last noted price of the SUV was at Rs 11.09 lakhs for the base trim and Rs 16.43 lakhs (both prices ex-showroom) for 4X4 top trim. The price was quite good for the offroad features it offered but was overshadowed by all the fancy stuff its rival offered. The rivals of the Safari included Mahindra Scorpio, Hyundai Creta, Jeep Compass. All the above reasons lead to poor sales of the vehicle. The mighty SUV was struggling to survive in the market from around 2017-2019. Thus Tata had no other option than discontinuing it.

Overall many of the SUV enthusiasts have some memory with this legendary SUV and that kind of feels disappointing. Recently Tata decided to have a tribute to the Tata Safari so they are planning to launch the Safari Edition of the Tata Hexa. The Tata Hexa was recently shown at the Auto Expo, you can watch the walkaround video of it below.