Is Tata Motors' Hexa capable enough to take on competitors?

Tata Motors on Wednesday launched the its latest car the Hexa, the first in the premium crossover segment for the company. The SUV was launched at a price of Rs 11.99 lakh to Rs 17.49 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi).

While the base variant the Tata Hexa XE is priced at Rs 11.99 lakh, the XM priced at Rs 13.85 lakh; XMA at Rs 15.05 lakh, XT at Rs 16.20 lakh, XTA at 17.40 lakh and XT 4x4 at Rs 17.49 lakh.

The Hexa is the latest offering from the Tata Motors stable after the launch of the Tiago in April last year.

The SUV is primarily going to take on the likes of the Toyota Innova Crysta and the Mahindra XUV500.

Lets pit them against eachother to see how they stack up on paper. 

Prices
Tata Motors has priced its new offering quite competitively. At a Rs 11.99 lakh introductory price tag, the Hexa is cheaper than both, the Mahindra and the Toyota and should be able to find it's way around the crossover SUV segment that has popular players like the XUV500 and the Innova Crysta. That's one worry out of the way on the word go for Tata Motors. 

The Mahindra XUV500 is a little dearer at Rs 12.43-17.53 lakh and the Toyota Innova Crysta diesel at Rs 14.22-21.19 lakh.

Prices of the Hexa go up to Rs 17.49 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). Mind you, these are just the introductory prices and Tata Motors is likely to hike them going ahead. 

Powertrains

The Hexa gets two engine options, the VARICOR400 and VARICOR320, which are both 2.2 litre BS IV diesel engines.

The VARICOR400 engine churns out a power of 154bhp and 400Nm torque, while the VARICOR320 dishes out 148bhp and 320Nm torque. While the VARICOR400 engine will be available with a 6-speed automatic or manual transmission, the VARICOR320 engine will come with a 5-speed manual transmission. Hexa also comes with an all-wheel drive (AWD) system.

The Innova Crysta gets more powerful powertrains in both the 2.8 auto and 2.4 variants. 

While the Hexa has a 2197cc, 4-cylinder turbo engine, the Innova Crysta 2.8 auto has a 2755cc, 4-cylinder turbo-engine and the 2.4 variant has a 2393cc, 4-cylinder turbo engine.

The Mahindra XUV500 has a similar engine to the Hexa at 2179cc, 4-cylinder turbo engine.

Power output

While the Tata Hexa churns out a power of 154hp, the Innova Crysta 2.8 auto dishes out 174hp. The Mahindra XUV500 has a lower power of 140hp.

Transmission

All three cars have their engined mated to 6-speed automatic and manual transmissions.

Dimensions

The Tata Hexa is marginally longer in comparison to the Toyota Innova Crysta and the XUV500 is much smaller.

Tata Hexa's length of 4788mm, which is just a little larger than the Innova Crysta (4735mm). The XUV500 is much smaller at 4585mm. However, the width of the Hexa is much large at 1903mm, followed by XUV500 at 1890mm and Innova Crysta at 1830mm.

Variants
The Hexa comes in six trims, ie XE, XMA, XM, XT, XTA and XT. Apart from the XT which is a 4x4, all others are a 4x2.

While the base trim the XE is priced at Rs 11.99 lakh, the mid trim which is the XM and XMA is priced at Rs 13.85 lakh and Rs 15.05 lakh and the top trips ie the XT, XTA and XT 4x4 is priced at Rs 16.20 lakh, Rs 17.40 lakh and Rs 17.49 lakh, respectively.

The Mahindra XUV 500 has 7 trims which include the W4, W6, W8 AWD, W10, W8 FWD AT, W10 AWD AT, W10-FWD AT. The Innova Crysta has 10 variants with the base trim the G MT (7 seater) priced at Rs 13.83 lakh. The mid trims are the VX MT and ZX MT priced at Rs 17.53 lakh and Rs 19.47 lakh, respectively. The top end ZX AT costs Rs 20.77 lakh.

On paper, it looks like Tata has got things right, putting it's first crossover SUV at an advantage with its competition. Looks like the Hexa could be a serious competitor in the segment.

Toyota Innova Crysta's sales have been quite good in 2016, while the once very popular Mahindra XUV500 has been struggling.

In December, Toyota posted 65.4% year-on-year growth in the Innova Crysta's sales (32.8% on month). This is despite demonetisation which has had auto companies in a bunch. The sales of the Mahindra on the other hand fell 31.2% YoY decline in sales in December.