Tata's newest offering the Nexon has all the making of a thoroughbred, but does it have what it takes to take on the Maruti Suzuki Brezza
Compact SUVs are quite a strange concept. Basically, you take the ride height and butch appeal from an SUV and then you squish while retaining the dimensions of a hatchback. It's easy to see how this concept caught on in India, with over crowded cities, and potholed abominations in the way of roads. A small powerful SUV-like hatch is literally what the Doctor ordered. First to join the C-SUV party was Ford with their EcoSport back in 2013. Last year Maruti, not to be left behind, brought out the Vitara Brezza which was immediately crowned king over Ford's now dated EcoSport. However, there was one participant left to join the party, a concept from Tata that had caught all our eyes at the 2014 Auto Expo, the Nexon. Now in concept, the Nexon was front and centre in the eyes of the populace. Tata, of course, was paying close attention. While the media boffins complain about how the ultimate product will look nothing like the concept, Pratap Bose (Tata's go-to designer) and his team got to work. Their task was to design a production ready version of the concept without alienating any of the oomph that came with it. Easy Peasy right? Wrong! Concepts usually don't have tight production budgets or have to worry about things like material costs and what have you. Three years later, the Nexon is here, and somehow the production variant looks almost exactly like the concept. Whether you like the way the Nexon looks or don't, it doesn't really matter, there is no way that a Nexon drives past you and don't double take, it grabs your attention. You just can't help it.
Design
Now the Nexon inculcates Tata's newest design philosophy that they are calling Impact. And you can see why. Dimensionally speaking the Nexon is about the same size as the competition. It's a little wider and shorter by little as makes no difference. When we spoke to Tata's design lead at the launch, he said that the idea behind the Nexon's flowing coupe style roofline was to put the "S" back in SUV. Although it's not hard to imagine the folks at Tata pointing to a Range Rover Evoque and saying "make this, but for India and cheap". I kid! Overall we can't complain, it gives the Nexon the kind of look that most people who have ever sung along to the Chainsmokers would like. I use this analogy since Millennials don't like labels, and we don't like to alienate our reader-base. The rest of the car, however, is butch. Flared wheel arches are accentuated by a single sinewy line along the profile, 16-inch wheels, meaty plastic cladding and 210mm of ground-clearance all add up to create the illusion of size. The further you step back the more the design wizardry starts to peel away and while it doesn't look bad from far away, it does start to look a lot smaller. The same philosophy goes on the front and the back, Tata's hexagonal grille is flanked by large headlamp units tied together by a shiny metal strip that runs across the front, Tata calls it the Humanity line. Of course LED projectors, fog lamps, and DRLs have not been missed out. Both bumpers sport a mix of painted and naked plastic, which is a firm indication towards the Nexon’s SUV intent. The boot is all about clean lines, think of it as a palate cleanser, with subtle LED tail lamps. The party piece on the Nexon is a quality plastic strip that runs around the body of the car to separate the roof from rest of it, it's a cream-ish ceramic colour which Tata claim to have developed in-house. The roof gets only the single shade of gunmetal grey with thick metal roof rails. The rest of the body, however, is ala carte. So far as we know that it's available in candy Red and Blue, and other colours that Tata will not comment on. Overall, it's got great road-presence, contemporary styling and while it is compact it still retains a lot of SUV appeal. Read more...
Compact SUVs are quite a strange concept. Basically, you take the ride height and butch appeal from an SUV and then you squish while retaining the dimensions of a hatchback. It's easy to see how this concept caught on in India, with over crowded cities, and potholed abominations in the way of roads. A small powerful SUV-like hatch is literally what the Doctor ordered. First to join the C-SUV party was Ford with their EcoSport back in 2013. Last year Maruti, not to be left behind, brought out the Vitara Brezza which was immediately crowned king over Ford's now dated EcoSport. However, there was one participant left to join the party, a concept from Tata that had caught all our eyes at the 2014 Auto Expo, the Nexon. Now in concept, the Nexon was front and centre in the eyes of the populace. Tata, of course, was paying close attention. While the media boffins complain about how the ultimate product will look nothing like the concept, Pratap Bose (Tata's go-to designer) and his team got to work. Their task was to design a production ready version of the concept without alienating any of the oomph that came with it. Easy Peasy right? Wrong! Concepts usually don't have tight production budgets or have to worry about things like material costs and what have you. Three years later, the Nexon is here, and somehow the production variant looks almost exactly like the concept. Whether you like the way the Nexon looks or don't, it doesn't really matter, there is no way that a Nexon drives past you and don't double take, it grabs your attention. You just can't help it.
Design
Now the Nexon inculcates Tata's newest design philosophy that they are calling Impact. And you can see why. Dimensionally speaking the Nexon is about the same size as the competition. It's a little wider and shorter by little as makes no difference. When we spoke to Tata's design lead at the launch, he said that the idea behind the Nexon's flowing coupe style roofline was to put the "S" back in SUV. Although it's not hard to imagine the folks at Tata pointing to a Range Rover Evoque and saying "make this, but for India and cheap". I kid! Overall we can't complain, it gives the Nexon the kind of look that most people who have ever sung along to the Chainsmokers would like. I use this analogy since Millennials don't like labels, and we don't like to alienate our reader-base. The rest of the car, however, is butch. Flared wheel arches are accentuated by a single sinewy line along the profile, 16-inch wheels, meaty plastic cladding and 210mm of ground-clearance all add up to create the illusion of size. The further you step back the more the design wizardry starts to peel away and while it doesn't look bad from far away, it does start to look a lot smaller. The same philosophy goes on the front and the back, Tata's hexagonal grille is flanked by large headlamp units tied together by a shiny metal strip that runs across the front, Tata calls it the Humanity line. Of course LED projectors, fog lamps, and DRLs have not been missed out. Both bumpers sport a mix of painted and naked plastic, which is a firm indication towards the Nexon’s SUV intent. The boot is all about clean lines, think of it as a palate cleanser, with subtle LED tail lamps. The party piece on the Nexon is a quality plastic strip that runs around the body of the car to separate the roof from rest of it, it's a cream-ish ceramic colour which Tata claim to have developed in-house. The roof gets only the single shade of gunmetal grey with thick metal roof rails. The rest of the body, however, is ala carte. So far as we know that it's available in candy Red and Blue, and other colours that Tata will not comment on. Overall, it's got great road-presence, contemporary styling and while it is compact it still retains a lot of SUV appeal. Read more...