Tata Nexon New Facelift: The fight in the compact SUV segment has heated up and to everyone’s surprise, as Tata Motors’ aggressively priced and redesigned Nexon facelift struggles to take the lead over segment-leader Hyundai Creta despite enjoying a massive price advantage.
Tata Motors’ dealers and people in the industry across India say the snazzy new look and aggressive pricing have failed to result in any sales bonanza, that the senior management at Tata Motors led by N Chandrasekaran had predicted when introducing what many in the industry dubbed their ‘Creta challenger’.
Tata Nexon New Facelift Design Gamble Pays Off With a Mixed Result
When Tata took off the wraps from the heavily updated Nexon last 7 months ago, the whole world was gushing with excitement. The leap of design was the most extreme from Tata, with design that was a break away from its predecessor, with a completely new front fascia which housed split LED headlamps, a huge grille with illuminated elements and a clamshell bonnet, the overall look was visibly much more premium.
At the rear, it received united LED taillamps running across the width of the tailgate, while maintaining sub-4-meter dimensions to be spared from additional tax brackets – a key component of its competitive positioning.
But this aggressive design strategy has divided prospective buyers. Rajesh Sharma, who runs a high profile Tata dealership in Pune, says: ”Showroom visitor reactions are completely mixed.
Gen-next prospects find the design new-age and radical, but traditional Tata customers find it too futuristic and busy in comparison with the previous generation’s balanced looks.”
This feeling seems highly instigated in the older age groups, which form for a large number of compact SUV buyers in the Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities – markets which are also very essential for long-term volume sales for this segment.
The Right Positioning to a Wrong End
Tata’s price strategy with Nexon facelift was absolutely no holds barred, ranging from ₹7.99 lakh to ₹13.99 lakh (ex-showroom) – which lands it around ₹1.5-2 lakh shy of competitively kitted out Creta versions.
This aggressive pricing showed their belief in the product and the fact that they want to take the fight to the Hyundai who currently enjoy segment leadership.
“The value proposition on paper is outstanding,” automotive analyst Vikram Saxena says. “For the price of a mid-variant Creta, customers can get a top-spec Nexon that offers almost everything segment buyers are looking for. “Yet buying decisions in this realm obviously go beyond feature-to-price ratios.
But what this observation emphasizes is an age-old problem for the Nexon: despite offering as good, or even better, equipment levels at a lesser price, it has not erased some unfathomable criteria which are still luring buyers toward the Creta.
There’s a Tough Stigma to Crack Against the Brand
Research on brand perceptions in the country’s major cities show the disconnect between the two brands remains. Though Tata has come a long way in terms of quality, reliability and customer satisfaction scores over the last five years, Hyundai still holds a psychological edge in the minds of car buyers -especially in terms of resale value and long-term ownership experience.
“We often come across customers who walk into our showroom, bowled over by the Nexon’s specs and pricing,” says Deepak Patel, owner of a Ahmedabad multi-brand dealership.
But at the end of the purchase cycle, resale value and after-sales service network quality often lead them back to the Creta, while feeling that they are paying a premium for more or less the same set of specifications.
This reinforces the problem of going after an entrenched segment leader – meaning to conquer minds as well as tech specs before a buying decision is made.
Feature Set: Few Standouts, But Well Rounded Overall
Although the Nexon did come with a whole lot of good stuff with its facelift such as a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system, wireless smartphone connectivity, ventilated front seats and an extensive safety net that also helped it achieve a coveted 5-star rating from GNCAP, there have been certain misses that potential buyers are constantly reminded of as a reason why they could be better served with the Creta in front of them.
The popularity of a wide, glass-topped field of view – in the form of a panoramic sunroof – as a statement piece in this class of car has made the non-availability of one on the Santa Fe a particular fly in the ointment.
And along with ADAS features that the Creta may get, the absence of ADAS equipment makes the Nexon lag behind in terms of technology, even though otherwise, it boasts of a lavish equipment list.
Interior quality, though massively improved compared to other older Tata cars, isn’t quite at the levels to match up to the Creta’s european-themed cabin layout and material finish.
Though the Nexon’s interior is utilitarian with good features,” notes motoring writer Priya Menon, “it does not exude the oomph that Hyundai has managed to infuse in the Creta, which gives you a feel-good factor that even specs cannot cover.”
Powertrain: The thorn in the Side
The Nexon facelift retains the same set of engines from the outgoing model, albeit with some amount of fine-tuning – a 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol that churns out 118bhp, and a 1.5-litre diesel which makes 113bhp.
Though these engines are good enough for city and the odd highway run, they aren’t as smooth and eager as Creta’s bigger engines.
The automatic transmission (including the AMT) is a concern area and may share some of the blame, as the latter is just number 20 after the World War 2 bomb saga and outing the transmission as one of the weakest links contributing to the jerky gearshift in comparison to the smoother ones in the Creta’s torque converter and dual-clutch transmission (AMT and dual-clutches are two things Hyundai offers better than anyone else on ecology killing machines).
This technical drawback is of particular importance for urban driving conditions in which transmission smoothness is significantly linked with comfort and customer satisfaction.
The price edge notwithstanding, a lot of buyers, after all, would rather have this smoothness in everyday driving and accept the small initial saving.
Dealer Network and After Sales Support
Though it has grown significantly, Tata service reach lags behind that of Hyundai, especially in interior or smaller towns. This infrastructure deficit leads to apprehension on the part of customers who place value on easily accessible service, particularly the ones shifting from another brand and who do not have prior contacts with service outlets of Tata.
“Perception about Hyundai service quality and parts availability is still better,” says automobile consultant Rajesh Kumar. While Tata has made impressive jumps, changing ingrained perceptions takes time, more than can be had over product cycles.
Irrespective of the real time performance matrix, for a lot of consumers the premium ownership experience is still linked to certain brands.
Tata Nexon New Facelift Market Reaction and Prospects
The numbers for the first couple of quarters after the facelift was introduced show the Nexon churning healthy numbers but it isn’t even closely done playing catch up with the Creta.
Although Tata has managed to snatch away some of the market share from other rivals in the compact SUV segment, the main competitor is still proving elusive.
Now, some experts in the industry sense that before the Nexon could truly challenge the Creta’s supremacy, which is a stronger possibility because of the competitive pricing, Tata might need consider the introduction of selective updates to target some areas where the car really lags behind — refinement of the gearbox and interior ambience.
The company has allegedly fast-tracked a more advanced dual clutch gearbox option and interior quality improvements, thanks to early market reactions, although these changes would presumably be a few product cycles away.
While the race is just one example of the effect in having products that compete head to head (or has close to) in the compact SUV space (or any other segment) where numbersgame should be the decider, but it is buyer perception and ownership experience (and sometimes the brand name) brings leads the customer away from being practical to deciding to gameshow style.