A SLOPE OFF CITROËN BASALT VS TATA CURVV

ONCE UPON A TIME, not terribly long ago, the idea of a coupé-SUV sounded about as logical as waterproof tea bags or heated steering wheels in Chennai.

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It was the sort of thing you'd find wearing a Jaguar or Maserati badge. But then the BMW X6 came along and changed all that. It was designed for people who wanted their bulky utility vehicles to enter beauty pageants. Nearly two decades later, the coupé-SUV is no longer an oddity reserved for the elite. Swoopy-roofed SUVs have trickled down to the mid-segment, and now, you can spot one in your average Indian housing society, parked between an Alto and a Brezza.

Enter two new players aiming to democratise this style-first segment: the Tata Curvv and the Citroën Basalt. One's Indian, edgy, and generously equipped. The other is French, unconventional, and surprisingly well-sorted. Both are aimed squarely at the same kind of buyer, someone who wants a bit more style in their SUV without sacrificing its essential SUV-ness.

DESIGN: BLAZER VS LINEN