For the last one year or more there have been pictures and stories of a new updated Tata Safari which is being called the Safari Merlin. Some auto journos have claimed that this was the interim Safari or the Safari 18, the 18 standing for the number of months that were given to develop this interim vehicle before launching an all new Safari on the Tata Aria platform. Imagination has been running riot with all kinds of stories about the Merlin but there is no clear indication if it will be an all new Safari or just an interim upgrade. But now there seems to be indication that Tata Motors will launch a totally new Safari during the Auto Expo of 2012. The body being used by the test mules could only be to confuse people, since with the exception of the front end, the vehicle looks exactly like the present Safari which is now eleven years old.