Tata Harrier is Udhhav Thackrey's Pilot Vehicle

Uddhav Thackeray took oath as Maharashtra’s 19th chief minister last year in November. The man of Maharashtra owns a few luxury cars, which he drives all by himself even after being the CM of the state. However, the cars that run as pilot vehicles to Thackrey’s convoy on road are Tata Harrier. In the video, it can be seen that three black Tata Harrier lead the convoy with ‘Pilot’ plates. These are the XE variant of the SUV and have been particularly painted in black for the chief minister. While Thackrey drives himself in a white Range Rover, the black colour Harriers are much more ominous to scare people away from the road.

These Harrier SUVs are also fitted with beacons on top. However, these vehicles are not used by Maharashtra Police. They belong to PSA commandos, instead. But a lot of Mahindra TUV300 can be seen in the convoy, which belongs to the state police department. The Harrier in such a position proves that it can be used as a support vehicle in convoys of other VIPs of the country. This would also help the PM’s initiative of Vocal for Local. The Harrier is based on Tata’s OMEGA-Arc platform, which is a modified version of the Land Rover’s D8 platform. This platform also underpins the Discovery Sport.

The Harrier also borrows the front suspension and wheel hub assembly from the Discovery Sport. The rear suspension is, however, developed by Tata Motors to keep the costs in check. The Harrier has been recently updated with a BS-6 power plant. It gets an FCA-sourced 2.0L inline-4-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine that is good to put out 170 PS of peak power and 350 Nm of max. torque. The transmission duties on the Harrier can be had performed by either a 6-speed MT or a 6-speed AT.

With the update, the Harrier also gets itself a revamped feature list. It now comes equipped with a full-size panoramic sunroof, power-adjustable driver seat, diamond-cut dual-tone alloy wheels and more. On the safety front, the car comes equipped with dual front airbags, seat belts with pre-tensioners, front seat belt warning, hill hold control, traction control, corner stability control, rollover mitigation, brakes disc wiping, central locking, ESP, ABS with EBD as standard fitment across the range. The higher models, however, get 6-airbags, reverse parking camera, off-road ABS and more.