These spyshots of the Mahindra Scorpio facelift were snapped by our friends at Anything On Wheels. The vehicle was caught testing near Mahindra's R&D Center, located in the outskirts of Chennai. Like previous spy images, this Scorpio too is camouflaged at the front and rear. However, this prototype sports an emission testing equipment mounted at the rear.
The box that you see on the rear bumper is connected to the exhaust of the car. You can also see an 'AVL' logo on the box. Austrian-based AVL (Anstalt für Verbrennungskraftmaschinen List) is responsible for instrumentation and test systems, apart from development of powertrain systems for many manufacturers. Our guess is that Mahindra is testing a new component (maybe a catalytic converter) for the SUV.
At this point, all we know is that the Scorpio facelift would launch in the country in the second half of 2014. The Scorpio is an important model for the Indian UV maker, with over 400,000 units being sold since its launch 11 years ago. Despite its age, sales of the SUV have only increased in recent times, with Mahindra selling an average of 50,000 units/annum in the last two years.
A next generation model is believed to be under development and we could see it as early as 2016-17. Prior to that, Mahindra will launch an all-new, compact SUV (which has been caught testing many a time) codenamed S101 in 2016.
