Oh, dear! Or, is oh dearer a better bet? Yes! Definitely the latter. On the one hand, Tata Motors has devised a range of benefits for the Harrier as well as the Hexa under the ‘Festival of Cars’ campaign. On the other hand, it has silently raised the asking price for both the models. Before you start guessing, there are no feature or mechanical changes in either of them. It is the second time this calendar year that both models in question have received a price hike.

Let’s take Harrier’s case first. In June this year, its price list received an upwards revision by approximately Rs 31,000. Now, four out of its six trim levels – XM, XT, XZ and XZ Dual-Tone – have become dearer by just over Rs 20,000. What that means is Harrier’s XZ and #Dark Edition derivatives now carry the same price tag. At Rs 16.96 lakh, the XZ Dual-Tone has become the range-topper. The summary below should clear things out:

When Tata Motors launched the Harrier in January this year, it found itself stuck between a hard place and a wall. The Hexa was already available as the company’s flagship offering. But most of the Harrier’s price list overlapped that of the Hexa’s, and that gave birth to a panicky situation. To address that, Tata Motors decided to increase the prices of Hexa’ top three variants by Rs 20,000. Alongside, the Hexa also received some changes in its list of features. Now, however, prices for Hexa’s entire range have been hiked by up to Rs 47,000. Here’s how the new price list looks in comparison to the old one:

Even with the increased prices, the Harrier is still in quite a sweet spot. Its main rivals, such as the Kia Seltos and the Jeep Compass, will keep fearing the homegrown product. That, however, cannot be said for the Hexa. With the new price list, the MPV’s least and most expensive variants cost nearly Rs 94,000 and Rs 20,000 more than that of the Mahindra XUV500’s, respectively. It gets a bit worse for the Hexa as the mid-range (GX) automatic variant of the Toyota Innova Crysta, which is a much better seven-seater, costs Rs 1.15 lakh less than its XTA variant. Oh, dear! Yes, this one fits here better!