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The Nexon’s the Latest Compact Suv Around. Bring the Popcorn and Let’s Watch, Shall We?
 

- Raunak Ajinkya

The need to plug every segment, every opportunity isn’t lost on Tata. Usually, however, what happens is that a manufacturer tends to go overboard in its effort to get the car on the showroom floor, and that ends up meaning that the car hasn’t been thought through completely. It’s the little details that matter in the end, especially to a price-sensitive audience.

What this is, then, is another compact SUV, but the good (and relief-filled, I’d hasten to add) news is that the Nexon is a big departure from what you’d expect of a Tata, let alone a compact SUV. On our little drive, I lost track of the amount of times I had to remind myself that we were, in fact, driving around in a Tata, and that’s where it will it hurt its competitors the most: the styling. Everything from the rounded nose, the funky-looking headlamps, the flared arches, and the aggressively dropping window line, to the non-comformist rear styling, is a surprise to find and people notice, all right. Double takes become part and parcel, there’s a high level of curiosity around whether the car is a one-off, and if you put a Ford EcoSport or a Maruti Brezza beside it, the Nexon comes off looking decidedly fresh and interesting.