Indian automobile giant Tata Motors rolled out the 1,500th GS800 (General Service 800) Safari Storme 4×4 for the Indian Armed Forces on Saturday. The landmark unit was flagged off by Dr Subhash Bhamre, MoS Defence, along with Vernon Noronha, Vice President, Defence and Government Business, Tata Motors, at its Pune facility.
Draped in Army Green colour, Safari Storme GS800 is indigenously designed to meet the requirements of Indian Army. The army-spec Safaris are reliable and sturdier diesel SUV with a minimum payload capacity of 800kg.
Tata Motors claims the GS800 Safari has undergone a total trial run duration of 15 months in varied terrains across the country including on-road or off-road topographies. The Safari Storme GS800 offers 60 per cent higher payload, over 70 per cent higher power and over 200 per cent higher torque.
It has been purposely designed for rugged operational conditions ranging from high-altitude drives, traversing snow-bound regions and crossing deserts to the marshy lands.
Tata GS800 Safari Storme is also packed with advanced features such as ABS, recovery hooks, jerry can and fog lamps to suit army requirement during missions. It comes with bucket seats, mobile charging point, Air Conditioning (AC), heating, demisting, power windows and more space inside the cabin to accommodate six crew members comfortably.
The roll out new GS800 Safari is part of the deal that Tata Motors bagged in April 2017. Tata Motors will supply 3,192 units of Safari Storme 4x4 to Indian Armed Forces under a new category of vehicles- GS800 (General Service 800).
The company has supplied over 1,300 units of the Safaris for the army so far. Tata GS800 Safari Storme will replace the long-standing Maruti Suzuki Gypsy as army vehicle soon.
Tata Motors has been offering vehicles to security forces since 1958 and has supplied over 1.5 lakh vehicles so far.