Maruti Suzuki Gypsy has been the face of the Indian Army for a very long time. As the existing lot has bore the brunt of time, the defense department is reportedly in talks to replace them with a fresh lot of Tata Safari Storm SUVs. Early last year, Mahindra had also offered the Scorpio SUV for consideration. While the Safari and Scorpio both cleared the tests across rigorous terrains and tough conditions, reports suggests that Tata Motors has put forth a better deal.
The Army reportedly has over 30,000 Gypsy units currently in service and are extensively used in troops and officers transportation. The replacement process will begin early next year and the initial order of 3,198 new Safari Storme units will be delivered. As the Army prefers to have a single model across units due to logistic benefits, it is likely that Tata Motors will see more orders coming in soon.
If the Army signs the deal, this could be a second major order for Tata Motors this year, the earlier being Rs 1,300 crore deal in January for supplying high-mobility military trucks for the army. Moreover, the Safari Storme will offer better safety features and more power as compared to the dated Gypsy. The diesel version also makes it much simpler for the Army to procure fuel as it is readily available and is being used in its heavy-duty vehicles and fleet of trucks. More details will be known in the coming days.
Source: ET
