Mahindra XUV500 launched in Australia

Mahindra has been pursuing its global aspiration for quite some time. They bought the Korean company, SsangYong, last year, attempted to buy Saab and is still fighting litigations in America hoping to launch their utility vehicles soon. Mahindra is banking on the XUV500 to spearhead the entry into various markets. The flagship SUV was simultaneously launched in India and South Africa last year – though the supply to SA was immediately curtailed then, due to domestic demand. 

Mahindra has now launched the XUV500 in Australia, with highly competitive pricing and also with some credibility through four-star safety ratings from ANCAP (Australian New Car Assessment Program). Unlike here, only W8 versions will be offered in the land down under. The front-wheel drive model is priced at 29,900 Australian dollars (approx Rs 16.58 lakh) and AWD for 32,900 ( Rs 18.24 lakh), making it the cheapest seven-seater SUV in Australia.

Under the hood, the mechanicals aren’t any different from the India-spec XUV500. The car is powered by the same 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel engine with 140PS of power and 330 Nm of torque. However the six-speed manual gearbox might hamper its progress a bit; also there are rumours that Mahindra is developing a six-speed automatic transmission for the global markets. On the inside, feature list includes touch screen-enabled satellite-navigation with LCD, Italian leather upholstery, headlamps with LEDs, Bluetooth-ready audio system, tire pressure monitor and chrome-plated twin exhaust tips. 

What really interest us though is, will the exports to Australia affect schedule of deliveries in India. Also, we would really like to know if we get exact same car that scored four-star safety rating in Australia. Mahindra has also committed to further improve safety standards on the car to get five-star rating, hope these improvements will trickle down to domestic marker as well.

The other interesting bit of news doing the rounds right now is that Mahindra is also currently working on a twin turbocharged version of the XUV 500 with over 170PS of power and 400Nm of torque on offer. However, there is no official word on this front.