Tata Motors misses the Safari SUV, releases tribute video

Indian car market has grown exponentially in the last couple of decades. Many manufacturers have found India as a growing market and have started investing here. The competition is rising in all segments and the manufacturers are constantly coming up with new ways and ideas to promote their models. One of the most effective way was to create advertisements that would always be their in the heart of the viewers. We have seen several such advertisements in the past (Chetak, Platina, Maruti Alto). One such SUV that had a cult following among buyers was Tata Safari. Even though Tata has discontinued this iconic SUV years ago, we still remember the ad. Tata has now released a tribute video to Safari that shows how much they are missing the SUV.

the video has been officially shared by Tata Motors on their official Youtube channel. The video shows how Safari had changed the SUV game in India after it was launched in 1998. It was in production for almost 2 decades and was finally discontinued back in 2017. During the course of time, Tata had released so many advertisements for Safari. Some of them were so captivating that it would literally give you goosebumps  while you are watching them.

Also read: Mahindra Scorpio vs Tata Safari in a classic drag race (Video)

From the beginning itself, Tata has been sending a very confident picture about their SUV to customers. Even they had a catchphrase in one of their advertisement that said, “Go… make your own road”. This clearly indicated that it was a proper 4×4 SUV at that time. The video shares pictures of Safari and Safari Storme owners conquering difficult terrains. It also shows footage from some of their old and new advertisements.

Tata Safari was launched in the market back in 1998 at the Indian Auto Expo. Safari was not only sold in India but, was also exported to European markets. It was based on Tata Mobile pickup truck which was known as Telcoline. During the initial years, Safari was powered by a 2.0 litre turbocharged diesel engine from Peugeot. This engine generated a maximum of 90 Bhp and 186 Nm of torque.

After some years, Tata launched a petrol version of Safari in the market in 2003. This was powered by a 2.1 litre 16 valve engine that was developed inhouse by Tata Motors. It was a lot more powerful than older diesel version and generated 135 Bhp. Tata had to phase out the petrol engine within two years as it was infamous among buyers for its low fuel efficiency. Petrol version of Safari was even more expensive than the diesel version and for the same reason people preferred diesel version more.

Tata then launched a facelifted version of Safari in 2005 to compete with Mahindra Scorpio in the segment. It was offered with a 3.0 litre diesel engine that generated 115 Bhp and 300 Nm of peak torque. This 3.0 litre turbocharged engine was a brand new DICOR diesel engine. After this Tata launched Safari DICOR in 2007 which came with a2.2 litre diesel engine. It generated more power than the older 3.0 litre diesel engine. it generated 140 Bhp and 320 Nm of torque.

It became popular and even offered with features like airbags and ABS. It was available in both 2WD and 4×4 options. The Tata came up with the final iteration of Safari which was also a generation update. In 2012 Tata launched the Safri Storme which offered a more dominating look and offered a bit more in terms of features. The SUV was offered with 2.2 litre VARICOR diesel engine that generates 156 bhp and 200 Nm of torque. This is the same engine that was used in Hexa as well. By this time, the competition  had caught up and several manufacturers had entered the market with better looking and feature loaded products. This affected the sale and Tata had to finally put a stop on the production of an iconic SUV. The advertisement takes us through all these moments and wishes if Safari was still in production.

Also read: All-new 2021 Mahindra XUV500: What it”ll look like