Latest Tata Hexa Special Edition pays homage to Safari SUV

Tata Hexa Safari Edition was recently showcased at the Auto Expo 2020, garnering a lot of attention from auto-enthusiasts. That is primarily because the vehicle's badge features the name of a legendary SUV - Safari. Tata Safari was discontinued a while back, but the manufacturer has decided to carry the name on with a special edition of the Hexa MPV. The company is planning to launch the vehicle in a few months. The current model is only available as a BS6-compliant model, so it is expected that Tata will launch the Safari Edition alongside the BS6 Hexa range. Sadly, there has been no confirmation about the launch date, but we expect it to happen before the BS6-compliance deadline of April 1^st, 2020.

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There aren’t many cosmetic changes on the Hexa Safari as compared to the current Tata Hexa. It still has the same SUV-inspired crossover MPV silhouette, with butch bumpers, muscular wheel arches, and a long, raked bonnet. Some other interesting details to note are the 17-inch black alloy wheels, and the ‘Safari Edition’ badging on the roof-rails and tailgate of the vehicle. There is no chrome embellishing on the MPV, but instead, you get a lot of blacked-out details.

The powertrain on the current Tata Hexa consists of a 2.2-litre diesel engine (VARICOR) that produces a max power output of 154PS and a peak torque of 400Nm. The engine is paired to a 6-speed manual transmission as standard, while a 6-speed automatic is offered as optional equipment. This engine is only BS4-compliant at the moment. We expect the BS6-ready models to feature a different engine, perhaps the same one that is used in the newly launched BS6-compliant Harrier. The latter is powered by a Fiat-sourced 2.0-litre diesel engine (KRYOTEC) that generates 170PS and 350Nm.

Demonstration of Tata Hexa's off-road capability

One advantage that the Hexa has over the Harrier is that the former not only gets three-row seating, but also an All-wheel-drive system. While you will get three rows in the Gravitas (which is based on Harrier), you won’t get an AWD system on any other Tata vehicle. This will probably attract a lot of off-road enthusiasts to the car, most of whom already loved the Safari for its go-anywhere capability. Tata Safari Hexa will compete against Mahindra Marazzo and Toyota Innova Crysta.