There have been talks of the Safari Merlin since a while and Tata has been working on the facelift version of the Safari. The new Safari project is called Merlin and it will be launched early next year. There is a good possibility of it being unveiled at the Auto Expo.
There had been rumours that the Merlin is just a facelift, but the truth is that the new Safari gets the underpinnings of the Aria and this has helped to reduce the turning radiusof the SUV as compared to the current generation. The Safari will be powered by the same 2.2-litre engine that powers the Aria and will churn out 140bhp of power. The Merlin gets the G76 – Mark II gearbox with carbon lining from the Aria, which improves the shift quality. The 4x4 version will be discontinued on the Merlin and it will come all disc brakes, for fade-free braking. On the interior-front, there aren’t many new features on the offering.
The spare tyre has been moved below the car to reduce the rattling of the rear door. Tata even plans to introduce an autobox on the Safari, sometime in the near future.
