Mahindra will launch the XUV300 in India in the first half of February 2019. IAB has learned that it will start exporting the new model around the same time.
Speaking to IAB on the sidelines of the unveiling event, Dr Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, M&M revealed the company's export plans for the Mahindra XUV300. He said -
The product is very different (from Ssangyong Tivoli). It is coming from X100 platform. The body is totally different. The Tivoli is 4.2 metre long while this is sub-4-metre. It will have completely different powertrains. As per our agreement, we cannot sell this vehicle in Korea but we can sell it everywhere else.
On being probed further, he added that the Mahindra XUV300's launch in India and South Africa will take place "near(ly) simultaneously". The company has set up an assembly plant in Durban, and it is assembling roughly 300 vehicles a month there. The Mahindra Pik Up, Genio, Bolero-based pickup truck range, TUV300, Thar, Scorpio, XUV500 and KUV100 are sold through the 60 dealerships spread across the country. Moreover, the fact that the Ssangyong Tivoli is not on sale in South Africa should give the XUV300 a free run of sorts. It will compete with the likes of Renault Captur, Nissan Juke and Peugeot 2008.
The Mahindra XUV300 shares its underpinning with the Ssangyong Tivoli but features a different design with several Cheetah-inspired styling elements that put it in line with the aesthetics of the XUV500. Moreover, it features different powertrains, which will reportedly include turbocharged 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engines.
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The Mahindra XUV300 will be marketed as a premium product, which, as per Mahindra, won't be a car to get one from point A to point B at a low per km cost. The equipment list for the new compact SUV includes various high-end features like an electric sunroof, dual-zone climate control and seven airbags. In India, the XUV300 is likely to have a starting price of somewhere between INR 7.5-8 lakh (ex-showroom).
