Pratap Bose, Chief Design Officer of Mahindra & Mahindra, has teased an upcoming SUV with an image uploaded on his social media accounts. The teaser image depicts an SUV completely covered in black material, yet some of its design components are visible. It appears to be slightly more than four metres in length, but not as long as the XUV700.
Thus, it might be a midsize five-seater SUV that competes in the extremely competitive segment with Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, MG Astor, Volkswagen Tiguan, and Skoda Kushaq. It could replace the XUV500 and sit atop the XUV300 compact SUV, with futuristic design characteristics.
The flared rear fender, razor-sharp character line, sloped front windscreen, slightly angular roofline, and sculpted bootlid all point to a striking resemblance to the Born Electric concept range from earlier this year. It is also unknown whether it will be a more toned-down version of the impending skateboard platform pure EV in its near-production form.
Mahindra will not be present in the 2023 Auto Expo in January, but the company is planning to demonstrate something exceptional at a separate event to attract attention.
If it is the next generation XUV500, it is likely that it will be driven by a 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol and a 1.5-litre turbocharged diesel engine. Following the market introduction of the XUV700, which presently costs between Rs. 13.45 lakh and Rs. 24.95 lakh (ex-showroom), Mahindra discontinued the XUV500. However, the business does not rule out a return to the nameplate in the future.
Along with the freshly released Scorpio N, Mahindra revamped and rebranded the old Scorpio as the Scorpio Classic. However, the teaser image clearly indicates a fundamentally different design philosophy, implying that it may be the second generation XUV500.
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