Tata Motors has decided to discontinue its Safari DICOR in India and removed the SUV from its website. With sales dipping significantly since the latest iteration’s launch in 2007, the move will help the brand focus on the Safari Storme, Hexa and the upcoming Nexon compact SUV.
Sales of the Tata Safari are down by 40.77 percent (as in Jan-May 2017) compared to the same period in 2016.
The Tata Safari was originally sold from 1998 with an 87hp, 2.0-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine and defined the premium SUV genre at that time as it didn’t have any serious competition. 2005 saw a heavily modified Safari launch with the option of a 3.0-litre DICOR turbo-diesel mill pumping out 116hp and 300Nm of peak torque.
The 2007 revision phased out the 2.0-litre motor for a Euro-4 compliant 2.2-litre DICOR engine with 140hp and 320Nm. All the engines were mated to a five-speed manual and sent power to the rear wheels.
The premium SUV segment has moved on since then with rivals like the Mahindra XUV500. The DICOR’s stable mate, the Tata Safari Storme, was sold at the same time with the same 2.2-litre engine. While the Storme is based on a slightly more modern Tata Aria X2 platform, it shared its somewhat dated design with the DICOR. The more powerful Varicor-engined Storme comes with 156hp and 400Nm of peak torque, which is mated to a six-speed manual transmission.
Prices for the Tata Safari Storme start at Rs 9.79 lakh and go up to Rs 14.47 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).