The Tata Harrier is not just beating the Jeep Compass fair and square in terms of sales but is also out-advertising the Compass. Well, Tata Motors has just put together a massive Harrier hoarding on the Mumbai-Pune expressway that’s actually a lot taller than that put out by Jeep a few months ago for the Compass. The Tata Harrier hoarding measures 123 feet tall and 225 feet wide, making it massive. It covers nearly 27,500 square feet and weighs over 260 tons. In contrast, the hoarding of the Jeep Compass is 100 feet tall and 253 feet wide, which means that it’s clearly smaller in terms of overall size. Jeep did pioneer this ‘in-yer-face’ style of advertising though. So, full marks to Jeep for that. Tata Motors is playing up the ‘Above All’ tagline of the Harrier, and the sheer height of the hoarding does fit the messaging that the Indian automaker is using for the SUV.
Image courtesy Team-BHP
The Jeep Compass and Tata Harrier are not direct rivals except for a mild price overlap on the base petrol trim of the former and the top-end diesel trim of the latter. The Harrier starts from Rs. 13.01 lakhs while the Compass starts from Rs. 15.65 lakhs. The Harrier sold in India is offered with a single engine option: a 2 liter-4 cylinder turbo diesel unit that makes 140 Bhp-350 Nm.
Tata Motors is working on a 6 speed automatic gearbox for the Harrier, which should be launched later this year. The front wheel driven SUV will also get a BS6 compliant version of the 2 liter diesel engine by early next year, and is also likely to get a power bump up to 170 Bhp. There is no petrol engine currently offered on the Harrier, and Tata Motors might offer a turbocharged petrol option on this SUV from 2020. There’s been no official announcement though.
Talking of the Jeep Compass, the SUV is a lot smaller than the Harrier but offers a lot more options to the buyer. The SUV gets turbocharged petrol and diesel engines. The 1.4 liter petrol makes 160 Bhp-250 Nm, and is offered with 6 speed manual and 7 speed twin clutch automatic gearbox options. However, only a front wheel drive layout is offered on the petrol Compass. The diesel powered Compass uses the same engine that’s offered on the Harrier – the Fiat Multijet – but gets a higher state of tune: 170 Bhp-350 Nm. 6 speed manual and 9 speed automatic gearbox options are on offer, and the diesel powered Compass gets front wheel drive and four wheel drive layout options. The SUV is also offered in a top-end TrailHawk trim that comes with a slew of off roading features. It’s quite pricey though, with prices starting from Rs. 26.95 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi.