Mahindra mulls a compact SUV for 2013: Mini Scorpio anyone?

Mahindra Xylo Mini MPV

Chopping cars to make them smaller and consequently less expensive seems to be the trend of the season at Mahindra &Mahindra. The Mahindra Xylo Mini MPV is all set to be launched shortly with the Mahindra Verito Compact Sedan to follow soon after. To add to these models, Mahindra is also said to be developing a Mini SUV, which could turn out to be the least priced SUV in the country with a stunning price of under 5 Lakh rupees.

Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that such SUVs will be a terrific bet in India, where the added ground clearance of an SUV is a big boon, both on city streets as well as highways. With Mahindra all set to join the fray in 2013, expect this segment of 5 seater budget SUVs to really pick up in the coming times. The Mahindra Compact SUV will measure in at under 4 meters to make full use of the excise duty benefits the Indian government confers upon cars under 4 meters in length.

The Mahindra Compact SUV could use the 1.5 Liter common rail diesel engine that the Mini Xylo will come with. The engine that will be used in the Mini Xylo will be a three cylinder unit derived from the larger 4 pot 2.2 Liter CRDe engine that powers the likes of the Scorpio and the Xylo. Incidentally, 2013 is also the period when Mahindra will launch a small car based on it’s home grown platform.

Could the Mini SUV that will arrive in 2013 also be a part of the overall development plans that Mahindra has for developing its small car? This is something that only Mahindra can answer. All said, the future Mahindra line up seems to be very exciting indeed and Mahindra seems to be soon catching up with Tata Motors, based on the sheer variety of products that the Indian automaker seems to bee developing.

Via BusinessStandard