Tata Motors is finally going to add petrol variants to the Harrier and Safari range, several years ago there were reports of petrol engine options in both the SUVs. Since the beginning, the current generation Harrier and Safari have been diesel-only SUVs with standard front-wheel drive, and the Harrier has recently been introduced in a fully electric version.
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As far as the engine is concerned, it is likely to be the same 1.5-litre turbocharged gasoline direct injection (T-GDI) engine that Tata introduced at the 2023 Auto Expo. At that time the carmaker had introduced two engines under its all-new Hyperion series – a 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine and a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine. The first engine produced 123 bhp and 225 Nm of torque, while the second engine was significantly more powerful with 168 bhp and 280 Nm – equivalent to the 2.0-litre diesel engine, but with less torque.
The 1.5 T-GDI unit would be perfect for a larger SUV, and on paper the figures suggest it could deliver good performance. It is expected that both manual and automatic gearbox options will be available with this unit, just like the diesel engine. However, it remains to be seen whether the unit fitted in the Harrier and Safari will make the same level of power or the company has tuned the engine to deliver more power to better compete with vehicles like the Mahindra XUV 700 petrol. Mahindra gets a bigger 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine that makes 197 bhp and 380 Nm of torque.
However, the new 1.5 turbo-petrol mill is expected to be introduced first in the new Sierra, which will be launched in India on November 25.
