Mahindra launches XUV 300, priced Rs 7.9 lakh onwards

MUMBAI: With an eye on regaining the lost leadership in the highly competitive Indian utility vehicle space, Mahindra & Mahindra, the maker of Scorpio and Bolero has entered 40,000 units compact SUV segment with its XUV 300 and challenge Maruti Suzuki's Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport and Tata Nexon. The launch of XUV 300 bridges a critical gap for the company - i.e. urban soft roader SUV priced between Rs 8 lakh to Rs 14 lakh, which the likes of Maruti Suzuki Brezza and Hyundai Creta have dominated over the last three to four years.The vehicle has a potential of adding 6000 units to monthly sales of Mahindra & Mahindra add about 3-4% of utility vehicle segment share, Pawan Goenka, MD, Mahindra & Mahindra told ET.Speaking at the launch of XUV 300, Anand Mahindra, chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra said the company has been very busy in developing world class models for the Indian market and the launches of three models - Marazzo, Alturas and now the XUV 300 clearly highlights the maturing of our technological capabilities at Mahindra. He said the synergies drawn from various global product development bases in North America with Mahindra North America Technical Centre, Pinninfarina in Italy, SsangYong in South Korea and Mahindra Research Valley in Chennai is delivering competitive modern products for India. Mahindra says it is coming off the age of M&M’s alliance with SsangYong Motor Company, it holds a huge potential to grow into it. “Tivoli changed the fortunes of SsangYong, today it is the third largest automaker in South Korea, we have the same expectation here for the XUV 300,” added Mahindra.Based on SsangYong’s Tivoli architecture, the XUV 300 has been developed with an investment of Rs 1150 crore. Since the architecture is shared with SsangYong, M&M has been able to develop the SUV at 25% lower investment.Goenka said the entry into softroader urban SUV is the probably the biggest strategic move in the recent times and the XUV 300 - which the company likes to call it as baby Cheetah - is an amalgamation of best of South Korean design and development capability and Indian frugal engineering. “This is the biggest sub-segment in the utilty vehicle space, 50% of the total SUV sales comes from this segment. Mahindra did not have an urban SUV segment, XUV 300 bridges that gap and if 6000 units volume, we get a 15% segment share,” added Goenka. While the company has borrowed SsangYong architecture, it has developed an all new body shell to suit the taste of Indian buyers.Goenka claims the XUV 300 is a complete package in terms of design, space, ride and handling or safety and it also boasts of features not seen in the sub-4 metre SUVs in India. The vehicle has the widest wheel base with 17 inches wheels.The vehicle is powered by a 1.5 litre diesel and 1.2 litre petrol engine and it boasts of 25 first in segment features which includes dual zone climate control cruise control, auto headlamp and wipers, sun roof, keyless entry, variable steering modes amongst others.With Tata Nexon securing 5 star safety rating, Mahindra has tried to up the game on safety with the XUV 300 boasting of 7 airbags, 4 disc brakes, 68% high tensile steel alongwith ABS and EBD as standard fitment.Despite the new launches of Marazzo and Alturas, Mahindra & Mahindra's utility vehicle sales declined marginally by 1.5% to 1.85 lakh with market share dropping further to 24% and despite the slowdown of Vitara Brezza, Maruti Suzuki's market share increased to 28.34%. Goenka agrees, the recent launches may cannabalise upto 2000-2500 vehicles per month, but he is confident of attaining 9000 units per month of combined sales of Marazzo, Alturas and the XUV 300.The XUV 300 is based on SsangYong Tivoli which is a segment leader in South Korea ahead of much stronger rivals like Hyundai and Kia. Since its launch in 2015, SsangYong has already sold 2.6 lakh units so far and it continues to enjoy 35% market share in South KoreaGoenka said the left hand drive version of XUV 300 will be ready in the next 6-9 months time, whereas it will take atleast two years for the electric version of XUV 300 codenamed S210 to be ready. Goenka said the company has no immediate plans for a 4.2 metre vehicle as yet.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2I95tUn

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