Tata Curvv Coupe SUV Makes A Solid Start: Outsells Citroen Basalt By 6 Times

Along with the Citroen Basalt, the Tata Curvv.EV and its internal combustion engined siblings are among the most affordable coupe SUVs money can buy in India. Sales numbers for both the Citroen Basalt and Tata Curvv coupe SUVs are now out, and it’s clear that the Curvv is outselling the Basalt many times over.

While Citroen managed to dispatch 579 units of the Basalt coupe SUV to showrooms across the country, Tata Motors did more than 6 times better, dispatching 3,455 units of the Curvv to dealerships across the country. While some of these are internal combustion engined models, most of the Curvv coupe SUVs that Tata Motors has dispatched are likely to be the electric version as that was launched earlier.

Prices of the Tata Curvv start from Rs. 9.99 lakh for the petrol version while the diesel versions come in from 11.49 lakh. The electric variants start from Rs. 17,49 lakh. Tata Motors offers two petrol engines, one diesel engine and one electric powertrain with two battery pack sized on the Curvv.

The coupe SUV gets a range of features including a four-spoke steering wheel with an illuminated Tata logo, ambient mood lighting, voice-assisted panoramic sunroof, 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, 9-speaker JBL audio system, 10.25-inch digital instrument gauge cluster, wireless charger, air purifier, an electrochromic IRVM, and an illuminated and cooled glovebox. Lastly, it also gets powered and ventilated front seats and an electronically controlled rear boot lid.

The Curvv is big on safety, and given Tata’s reputation, is expected to bag a full 5 star rating from Bharat NCAP. Level 2 ADAS with adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, blind spot detection, lane change alert, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, and rear cross traffic alert, a 360-degree camera, ABS, EBD, traction control, ESP and 6 airbags are the other safety features offered on the Curvv.

Why’s the Tata Curvv outselling the much cheaper Citroen Basalt?

There are multiple reasons for this.

1. Dealer footprint

Tata Motors has a much bigger dealer footprint that spans the length and breadth of India while Citroen has less than 100 dealerships across the country. In fact, Citroen doesn’t have a single dealership in the large eastern state of Odisha. This greatly limits Basalt sales. On the other hand, Tata Motors has over 1,600 across 865 cities of India. Citroen is expanding its reach but it’ll be a while before it match the bigger automakers such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra and Tata Motors.

2. Brand recall

Tata Motors is a tried and tested brand in India. Citroen is virtual unknown, even in major metros. The French brand has been operational for less than 5 years in India, and is expanding slowly but steadily. While making a large purchase such as a car, which is generally the second biggest purchase for most buyers after a house, most people tend to favour tried and tested brands over newer, and relatively obscure ones.

3. The product itself

While the Citroen Basalt is a competent, and cleverly designed car, selling at a competitive price tag, it clearly feels a generation behind the Tata Curvv. The Curvv looks a lot sharper, has a boatload of features that the Basalt doesn’t offer. Even the electric variant of the Curvv, despite being priced double of the Basalt, is doing quite well, as evidenced by the factory dispatch numbers.

Once the petrol and diesel engined Curvv variants join the party, the gap between the Basalt and Curvv sales is likely to get much larger. We’re not even getting into the sheer number of variants that the Curvv comes in, suiting a wide range of buyers while the Basalt has 2 petrol engines on offer.