There’s no doubt that we’ve been waiting for the Tata Harrier as keenly as you have. A quick blast through Rajasthan’s countryside tells us what it ’s made of
I hurried Parag back into the car, camera dangling, tripod unpacked and mashed down on that peddle like my life depended on it. The reason for my urgency in the remote Rajasthani hinterland was very justified. You see, we had been handed the keys to the Tata Harrier in Jodhpur and were given strict instructions to be at the Khimsar sand dunes by 7:30pm. Tata’s ‘senior management’ wanted to put us through the regular rigmarole of a product presentation through dinner. Now instead of sticking to schedule, we got carried away shooting the SUV with the setting sun. I really didn’t want to be the guy who slunk in sheepishly 20 minutes after it all began, but with 68km of typical Indian village roads ahead of me (narrow, broken, speckled with bovine road dividers) I didn’t have enough time.
Speaking of time, it was only a matter of time before the Harrier happened. When Tata Motors bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford back on June 2, 2008, technology from these two legendary marques trickling down to their cars here in India was imminent. We were excited. A Freelander based Tata? Wait, a Range Rover-based Tata!? Heck, I’d have liked them to start dropping bombshells within the next year but that’s not how car development works. It’s slow. And it starts in the shadows. Things did change at Tata Motors – the processes in manufacturing, quality control, checkpoints at every stage from concept to production were being picked up from JLR, and it showed. The current crop of Tata cars – right from the Tiago to the Hexa – are so far beyond anything they made before that they really forced us to look at the brand differently. But now, we finally have a product directly based on a JLR platform.
This story is from the January 2019 edition of BBC TopGear India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January 2019 edition of BBC TopGear India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
No It's Not An SUV
But an FUV Ferrari Utility Vehicle
THE STORY OF THE MULTI RALLY
Why this Ducati is the ultimate one-pony horse
INFINITI FX VETTEL EDITION
The list of special edition road cars bearing the name of F1 world champions is short, but not short enough.
BIKE SALES ANALYSIS THE WINNERS AND LOSERS
The Indian two-wheeler industry continues to grow at a rapid pace. India runs on two-wheelers and this age-old adage has stood the test of time.
(2004) MG XPOWER SV-R VS MG4 XPOWER (2023)
The 429bhp Chinese hot hatch meets its troubled, V8-engined namesake. Is there any relation?
RICCI'S GARAGE
Reportes Mark's pondering the biggest question of all: single or twin turbos for his GT-R rebuild
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
A new book gets unfiltered access to BMW Design’s cutting room floor. These are the projects that could have been...
THE LAST OF US
The Audi R8 is no more. TG was there to witness the final build, and we couldn't help but get involved...
FUTURE PROOF
The Chinese auto industry is moving at pace. And it means business
PURE KLASSE
Last year saw the saloon version of BMW’s Vision Neue Klasse, now here comes the SUV...