Hexa-Tata’s repackaged attempt in UV game

Tata Motors launched Aria in 2010 and dubbed it as the country’s first crossover vehicle from a homegrown automaker. And unfortunately, the automotive model bombed on the sales front.

There are myriad reasons for the failure of the maiden crossover from an Indian company. Crossover as a utility vehicle (UV)category was alien to many Indians then. There is a valid reason for that too.

Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) as an automotive option was just gaining currency among Indians who, till then, were in love with just cars – sedans and hatchbacks. In the global automobile evolutionary process, people opt for crossovers when they get fed up with gas-guzzling SUVs.

Therefore, crossover would obviously not cut much ice with Indians who had just started relishing SUVs. That’s reason why some automobile models which are essentially crossovers are sold as SUVs in India.

For uninitiated, crossovers are a cross-breed of cars and SUVs. That means a crossover offers car-like comforts inside and SUV-like features outside.

Low awareness of crossover category apart, the other thing that did Aria in was the uncomfortable fact that it was pitted against Toyota Innova, a multi-utility vehicle (MUV) which notched up unprecedented success in the country and carved a niche for itself in the annals of India’s evolving automotive history.

Aria’s uninspiring design which bordered on blandness also contributed to its fall. Undeterred by the lukewarm response, Tata Motors brought in an updated version of Aria in 2014, but the new avatar also did not do well even though its entry-level variant was offered at a mouthwatering price point.

It’s no surprise that Tata Aria’s sales never moved up from the nadir, forcing the automaker to go back to the drawing board.

The result is the recently-launched Tata Hexa. And Tata Motors calls it as a lifestyle vehicle whatever that means. The Hexa is equipped with a 2.2-litre, four-pot Varicor diesel engine – a familiar powerplant for many who are familiar with the quintessential SUV, Tata Safari Storme.

However, the engine is available in two states of tunes here, as per Tata Motors website. First one is the Varicor 320 which powers the entry-level version labeled XE.

This motor generates a maximum power of 148 bhp at 4,000 rpm and its torque, as the engine name indicates, peaks to 320 Nm at 1,700 rpm and continues there till 2,700 rpm. This powerplant is mated to a five-speed manual stick and comes with only rear-wheel-drive configuration.

The engine with higher state of tune is called Varicor 400. And it powers higher versions – XM and XT. The Varicor 400 produces a peak power of 154 bhp and maximum torque of 400 Nm.

The plant is either paired with six-speed manual or automatic transmission. Tata Motors also offers an option of all-wheel-drive (only on flagship XT trim) on the manual version while the automatic avatar comes with only rear-wheel-drive.

To spice up the offering, Tata Motors packed the Hexa’s powerplants with four driving modes - Auto, Comfort, Dynamic and Rough Road. Electronic stability programme (ESP) and Torque on Demand (ToD) are among other features that are on offer.
Measuring 4788 mm in length and 1791 mm in height, the Hexa boasts a wheelbase of 2850 mm and has a width of 2850 mm. Other key specs include 200-mm ground clearance and 5.75-m turning radius.

Inside, the Hexa comes equipped with Benecke-Kaliko upholstery, ambient mood lighting and utility spaces at strategic locations. The outside is dominated by dual tone bumpers, Tata’s signature grille with chrome line, daytime running lights (DRLs), smoked projector headlamps, wrap-around tail lamps and plastic muscles at the lower part of the vehicle.

On the seating configuration side, the Tata’s new offering is available with six or seven seats. The lower-rung XT and XM trims are offered with seven seats while the flagship trim, XT, is fitted either with seven or six seats depending on customers’ requirement.

Since I have not got any opportunity to drive this vehicle, I can’t obviously comment on how the vehicle, though endowed with decent specs, behaves and on the way it performs. However, I was at the launch of this vehicle in Hyderabad recently.

As far as the design is concerned, I have not seen much improvement from the Tata Aria’s contours. Tata Motors claims that the Hexa, which is priced from Rs 12.20 lakh (ex showroom, Hyderabad), is the second vehicle from its stable after Tata Tiago to make use of the Impact design language that the automaker has developed in-house, but the so-called new design language has not helped the new model’s cause much and the overall design contours are as bland as those of Tata Aria. Tata Motors still needs to pull up its socks as far as the designing elements are concerned.

The biggest problem with Tata Motors guys is that they are under a false impression that every product that carries 'Tata' name sells in India. This attitude is what has killed Tata Nano.

I do agree with their opinion that Tata is a great and value-conscious brand with a rich history. But that doesn’t mean that Indians will buy whatever Tata Motors dishes out - even when there are better choices around. Hope Tata Motors goes for radical revamp of its design elements and comes up with better-looking products!