Auto India, Car India

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After Tata introduced Nano, the other auto giants in the industry started focusing on making small cars. As a result, the Indian auto market is flooded with small cars and the consumers are spoilt with choices. The company that plans to join this segment is Mahindra & Mahindra.The company is developing a mini-SUV that will be priced between 3 to 4 lakh. The leader of utility vehicles in the country is currently making the vehicle with the help of Ssangyong, the South Korean auto company that it acquired last year.

The best thing about this mini-SUV is its low price. Most of the SUVs in the country and across the world are considered to be exclusive cars. They are priced above eight to nine lakh; be it Nissan Juke, Jeep Wrangler, and Skoda Yeti.

The workers who are involved in making this model call it as ‘Nano SUV’ and the model has been coded as S101. If this ‘Nano SUV’ hits the roads with the same price, it will become the first mini-SUV with this price to be launched in India, and also in the world. It would open new avenues for low cost SUVs across the globe; a trend that Tata Nano introduced in the auto world.

The S101 is expected to be powered by a single 1.2 litre petrol engine, and its diesel variant is expected to be powered by 1.5 litre engine. Although company started working on this ambitious project about a year ago, it will take another 26 to 28 months before this model will be ready to be launched from its Chakan plant, located in the outskirts of Pune. The recently launched XUV500 are being manufactured in the same plant.

The chief executive of product development, technology and sourcing, Wadhera said that “Work on a new platform should be concluded very soon and it will be on the compact side.” However, he did not give any specific details of the car but said that the styling and customer research of this mini-SUV is going on. The company is also yet to establish if the vehicle would be feasible in its techno commercial aspect.

Ever since Mahindra & Mahindra took over Ssangyong, this project would be the first one they would be doing together. The South Korean company has never made a low cost vehicle and the new project would indeed be a challenge that would welcome.

Another reason that both the companies want to design a small SUV is that it will have a lower excise duty of around 10%. A team of more than 100 engineers is working on this project in order to design, integrate and develop the engine and the cooling systems. The company is trying its best to keep the cost of development as low as possible.