Safari to whip up a Storme?

The new Safari is most unlike what a new car should be – look and act new. I don’t know on one count – haven’t driven it so can’t answer the second part of my own question but what I do know and can see, it doesn't add up to a whole new machine at all! In fact the inference to the old is so strictly adhered to that here Tata Motors could have scored an own-goal and given punters the impression that it is just window dressing and not much else.

Which is a shame for according to many of my colleagues on the automotive beat the new Safari has the potential to whip up a Storme in the SUV category and not just be one in the proverbial tea-cup! The market realization is key because where sheet metal changes have denoted so much progress for rivals and newcomers, an adherence to the original is not good for the Safari’s health, Storme be damned! Also Read: Tata Safari Storme complete details

The bigger question to be asked is not about the Safari Storme but about Tata Motors: has the Nano and the non-performing Aria (I say this because even the Force One out-sold it five to one in the last month and on average for the past few months!) taken its toll on the company’s overall focus? I sincerely hope not but looking at the Safari Storme even at Auto Expo 2012 one was surprised to note the decade old looks had been given a once over by a plastic surgeon to look healthy but not different and in tune with the times. Against the likes of the Renault Duster and the Mahindra XUV500 the Tata offering looks and seems, I am pained and sorry to state, pretty old hat. Forget innovation, it seems a pretty sad tale to think that this is the way to tackle a burgeoning market segment when essentially the original was the one which spoke true blue all-Indian SUV loudly and with pride!

Also when I mentioned the touchy subject of the toll telling on the company, in the challenging market scenario where every car maker is trying to pass the input costs to the consumer, I see that the slow-selling Indica in its “all-new” avatar (dual-coloured headlamps, chromed grille and a supposedly ‘new’ rear tailgate roof spoiler being the key differentiators!) is the only one whose prices have been dropped! Is this a telling statement on the state-of-affairs at India’s pride and joy?

It is not my intention to wield the stick but frankly speaking I just can’t comprehend the Storme. It is not perfect nor does it appear relevant. Especially when everyone expected a telling riposte from Tata Motors with Land Rover tech and style to boot! Expectations and crumbling under the weight of it is something a giant needs to avoid for the simple reason that getting up and going again means the loss of one critical ingredient: momentum! Lose it and the market moves on ahead. Let’s hope for the sake of its maker and a model which I very deeply associate with, let there be a Storme of epic proportions which delights its many followers and wins their hearts.

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