After showing you spyshots of the refreshed Xylo testing near Pune and presenting Shoeb’s speculative rendering, today we bring you images of the Xylo facelift completely uncamouflaged, thanks to user Dieseling from Team-BHP.com.
The front-end has gone through a sea of change and feels like some of the XUV500′s design language has rubbed off on the Xylo’s design team.
The transformation starts at the hood – redesigned using creases relocating to the sides. The bulge along the bonnet’s center has been flattened out. Subtle lines flow towards the center from either corners of the windshield.
The Xylo’s shiny grille takes a more traditional approach sitting on the same level as the headlamps. It replaces the body-colored grille design that forms the shape of an arch. A slim louvre separates the grille and bumper.
Indian Autos Blog fan Pappu Hatela mailed us a bunch of spyshots of the mini Xylo he snapped during its tests in Bangalore. Unlike its eight-seat sibling, the mini Xylo is going to be marketed as a junior SUV. The introduction is just months away now, by the festival season the launch will unfold.
We’re informed by sources that engineers are told to work on the powertrain to cut out vibration and noise after the management was unsatisfied with the results during evaluations.
We’ve been treated to interesting advertising concepts from Mahindra over the last few years. In 2010 they took a dig at the Tata Ace and used an AutoBot character to market the Maxximo as an advanced and sophisticated goods carrier. The background music, visuals of the Scorpio bashing the sand dunes and the stylish characters in the Scorpio’s “nothing else will do” ad broadcasted a high-energy and ambitious product.
Another recent example we liked was of the new Mahindra Bolero with a trained dog in the lead role. It was a good attempt to mix humor and tell viewers the kind of person they’d want to see buy their product.
Mahindra continues to diversify using its existing portfolio. First there was Scorpio and then came the Scorpio Getaway. The Bolero also went through the operation to make the Bolero pick up.
There are two versions of the Xylo pickup, one for the domestic market and another for the export markets. Our pals at Motorbeam spied a double cab pickup version of the Mahindra Xylo testing on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. It has a much better road presence thanks to a more uniform construction, chrome inserts, load bay accentuated with a stroke over the wheel arch and what we’d call designer tail lamps considering this vehicle is used to haul cement bags and water cans.
Mahindra’s first global SUV received a phenomenal response from the Indian audience. As a result of this phenomenal, the company faces an acute shortage of capacity. The problem becomes more pressing as Mahindra plans to launch the SUV in several international markets very soon.
M&M has already launched the XUV500 in South Africa but the company is keen on expanding in Europe and Australia.
Pravin Shah, chief executive of international operations -
We plan to launch the XUV500 in Australia by the end of the current financial year. Over the next three months, the vehicle would make its debut in markets across Europe, South and Central America.
To fuel those ambitions, M&M has started to ramp up capacity at their Chakan plant in Pune. Currently, the plant churns 110 units every day and this would be increased to 160 units by April. The added production would be sufficient to meet demand in both domestic and overseas markets for the time being.
Mahindra issued a press release today evening to inform the media that two products showcased at the Auto Expo, the Ssangyong Rexton and REVA NXR, along with “its Compact SUV” reach the market before the festive season in October/November 2012. Mahindra has highlighted product plans of its two wheeler and heavy vehicles division in the document.
Mahindra is referring to the mini Xylo as compact SUV. We say that because there isn’t another compact vehicle that is nearing the end of development in Mahindra’s R&D building.
Mahindra is working on another SUV, the Nano of SUVs (by virtue of size and ideology), codenamed S101 which is still a few years from production. Mahindra has not discussed this product in its release.
Mahindra adds that the passenger application of the Mahindra Maxximo, the Mini Van, will touch down in April-June 2012 and the sub-4 meter Verito sedan is scheduled for Q1 2013 debut.
Mahindra may be king of the hill when it comes to SUVs in India with their highly versatile portfolio starting from the agrarian Mahindra Bolero Pick up to highly polished XUV500 but the very hungry king back in November 2010, the Indian SUV Kingpin bought 70% stake in Korean SUV maker Ssangyong for a massive Rs 2,100 crore.
The Ssangyong Rexton will be launched in the next six months followed by the Korando C.
Now that the acquisition in complete, M&M has already started work on products that will be used by both Mahindra and Ssangyong. Both companies are working on two platforms – one in India and another in Korea. The two platforms will be housing SUV bodies as that is the core competency of both the companies. The first product should be out by 2015.
SMC’s portfolio consists of a luxury sedan, four SUVs and a multipurpose vehicle. Rexton, an SMC product, will be launched in India in the next six months followed by Korando C. M&M is setting up an assembly line at its plant in Chakan, Pune, to roll out SMC products. SMC products will be marketed in India through M&M’s existing retail outlets.
SMC is keen on expanding in emerging markets, like India, Russia and China. As a result, M&M is also considering commencing assembly operations for SMC products in Brazil, Russia and China in two years.
Under the project DELHY-3W, 15 hydrogen propelled three wheelers, a world’s first, was launched by Mahindra in the capital yesterday. It was complimented by a hydrogen refuelling station at the Pragati Maidan, around which the fleet will be operating. The three-wheeler in service is no different compared to the diesel-powered twin except the fact that the internal combustion engine is fed with hydrogen.
The project took 3 years to see daylight. It cost slightly more than 1 million US$, with 0.5 million US$ of co-funding from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) International Centre for Hydrogen energy Technologies (UNIDO-ICHET) based in Istanbul, Turkey to complete.
Hydrogen can easily replace the fossil fuel with a promise of cleaner and greener environment. The byproduct of burning hydrogen is water vapor and traces of NOx, hence being cleaner from well to wheel.
After showing you spyshots of the refreshed Xylo testing near Pune and presenting Shoeb’s speculative rendering, today we bring you images of the Xylo facelift completely uncamouflaged, thanks to user Dieseling from Team-BHP.com.
