Tata Motors’ Safari has been the flagship SUV for the brand for a very long time. It primarily competes with Mahindra XUV700 and MG Hector Plus in India’s D SUV segment. Currently, Tata Safari and its 5-seater counterpart, the Harrier, are offered with a sole 2.0L Turbo Diesel engine that is sourced from Stellantis.
The recent spy shots from automotive enthusiast Praveen Kumar might be testing Tata’s new 1.5L TGDI Turbo Petrol engine. There was one camouflaged test mule and a completely non-camouflaged test mule spied together. This new Petrol engine will allow Tata to price Harrier and Safari a lot more aggressively. Let’s take a closer look.
Tata Safari Petrol Spied
Ever since it was launched, Tata Safari has been offered with a sole 2.0L Turbo Diesel engine. Even when Tata launched Safari facelift, speculations were that there will be a new 1.5L Turbo Petrol engine in the mix. However, that wasn’t the case and Safari facelift continued to be offered with the same Diesel engine.
The Petrol engine, however, is still under development and is slated to launch by the end of this year. It will debut with Harrier and Safari and is likely to be plonked under the bonnet of upcoming Sierra and even in Curvv. This is the a TGDI gasoline engine Tata is developing in-house.
This 4-cylinder 1.5LTurbo Petrol engine with direct gasoline injection technology is expected to be a powerhouse, developing around 170 PS of peak power and 280 Nm of peak torque. Performance figures are quite healthy, but not as healthy as Mahindra’s 2.0L Turbo Petrol engine is rated at.
Could this be the 180 bhp Diesel?
Recently, Tata Motors acquired the development rights to this 2.0L Turbo Diesel engine and there are speculations of a new 180 bhp tune with around 400 Nm of torque. This is a slight increase when compared to the current state of tune where this 2.0L Turbo Diesel engine generates 170 bhp and 350 Nm.
Said Tata Safari test mule spied, might be testing this new state of tune that Tata has been working on. Either ways, Tata Safari is going to get some mechanical updates to further appeal to buyers and boost sales in the D SUV segment.
Also read – Tata Harrier EV Quad Day experience
