Tata Merlin not a production version name

Back in 2012 when the Safari Storme was due to make an entry, it was codenamed as Safari Merlin. this time too, this is the internal code name for the Safari project. Tata Motors isn’t likely to give it the project name, which it had for last 6-8 years. The Safari brand is one of the best-known SUV brands for the company, however it hasn’t been able to tick the correct boxes and has been out of contention for many new car buyers. This can mean that the new SUV should be looking at replacing the existing Safari Storme. The new platform is called Harrier. Tata Merlin will be based on it.

The Q5 project consists of two new SUVs. One is a seven-seater SUV and the other a five-seater. The bigger one shall be 2.0-litre Fiat Multijet engine and there might not even be a petrol engine on offer. At the same time, the smaller SUV shall have a 1.5-litre diesel engine. These new SUVs shall be manufactured in the company’s Rajangaon plant. The company is targeting about 60,000 annual units and it is also looking at exporting these cars as well.

The new Merlin will be manufactured in India and Tata is looking at exporting it to other markets. This is base don the Land Rover Discovery Sport platform and it will be localised. This will help the company to reduce the cost. The platform shall be the same as Land Rover, but there will be many differences in the quality else, the Tata SUV will see a hike in its price. This is what the company doesn’t want. The new SUV will be coming to India very soon.

Tata Merlin Launch Date

An all new SUV that will be making its entry into the Indian car market. Tata Motors is likely to show its new SUV at the 2018 Auto Expo. We can expect it to be launched by mid or late 2018. This will be a new SUV for the company and this is the best platform for the company to showcase its new-gen products. Even at the last expo, the company had showcased the Tigor and even the Nexon. There are a lot more products that are in the making and this is one of the two new platforms that the company is working on.

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Tata Merlin Price

A bit too early to state the exact price point. But the 7-seater version should be priced at about INR 18 lakhs to INR 23 lakhs (on-road). They cannot go higher than that and our sources have confirmed that the idea is to price it at the most up to the Hexa. This way, the car that you shall buy will be a lot more affordable and make it a good option to consider. Tata is still building its brand name for expensive vehicles and it will be not-a-very-business-correct move to price it higher. It will be a lot of investment risk for it.

Tata Merlin Design

The design language will be inspired by the new-gen Tata cars. There shall be the humanity grille and sleek headlamps. There will be more oomph and this will also be a handsome looking vehicle. The new Tata SUV family will begin with the Merlin. We expect this new SUV to be appealing, just like other new Tata vehicles are. This new SUV is made on the Harrier platform.

This platform is jointly developed by Tata Motors and Land Rover team. The company has got a completely different team for this project. Here both the teams have been merged. Tata Motors had sent a bunch of its engineers to the UK to understand the technology and implement the same into its cars as well. This has given them an opportunity to reach the next level.

Tata Merlin Engine and Transmission

Tata Motors has signed the deal for the new 2.0-litre Multijet engine with Fiat. But this is only with the six-speed manual transmission. The company won’t be getting the nine-speed automatic or even the 1.4-litre turbo petrol from Fiat either. The deal is purely for this engine and manual transmission only. There will be 2WD and 4WD options on offer. In fact the 4WD will be derived from the Land Rover technology and will be made more affordable without any affect on the quality. This will be helpful for the brand, and will have a good pull of those looking at serious off-roading.