Mahindra & Mahindra is planning to soon launch the smaller engine version of its popular XUV500 and Scorpio SUVs. The new version of the powerplant will be the downsize edition of 2.2-litre mHawk diesel mill. This move has been taken by the company against the Supreme Court’s ban on the diesel SUVs that have the engine capacity of 2000cc or more, in the NCR region in Delhi. As the new 1.9-litre mill is a smaller version, the power as well as torque for the powertrain, will remain the same.
The engine is diluted in-house but the mapping of the same has been outsourced. The mill is under development since the Supreme Court’s ban, but usually, the downsizing process takes about 1 year or 2 for completion. Mahindra Scorpio will go on sale first with the 1.9-litre engine and has been certified by ARAI. The certification process for the Mahindra XUV500 has yet to be completed.
Mr I.V Rao, former Head of Research and Development, Maruti Suzuki said that generally downsizing the engine takes about two years for redesigning and proper development of the parts and engine calibration. And all the complexity depends on how much change have been done to the downsized powerplant.
But Mahindra seems not to be much perturbed as it has recently added another SUV in its portfolio with the name KUV100. The car is a stylish microSUV which has been introduced at a price tag of INR 4.42 lac to 6.67 lac. The new KUV100 though lacks any direct competition in the market, but still it will be able to steal the market share of the B-segment cars such as Ford Figo, Hyundai i10 and Maruti Swift.
The exteriors of KUV100 looks like a mini XUV500, the front radiator grille is attractive and slim and gets the signature toothy grille black honeycomb mesh. The car also features attractive headlamps and daytime running lights. The bonnet is nicely placed and looks quite masculine while the bumper flaunts a pair of fog lamps. Lower bumper gets dull-silver faux skidplate. The top end variants ride on 14-inch alloy wheels while the rear receives petal shaped taillamps.
We will find a host of new innovation inside the car. KUV100 gets the cabin with the combo of black and beige along with silver accents. Gear lever has been moved towards dashboard while the centre console is flat, which houses AC controls, Music system along with USB, AUX connectivity and Bluetooth and Radio as well. The steering wheel besides providing facility for audio controls, is also tilt adjustable. There are also puddle lamps under each door of the car, that is something not commonly seen in hatchbacks.
Mechanically, new KUV100 is powered by the newly manufactured mFalcon set of engines. The petrol one is the 1.2 litres dual VVT mill that can generate power output of 82 bhp and peak torque of 114Nm, while on the other hand, the 1.2 litre diesel engine can churn out the power of 77 bhp and peak torque of 190Nm. Both the engine will come coupled with five-speed manual gearbox.
New Mahindra KUV100 is available in 7 different variants viz. K2, K2+, K4, K4+, K6, K6+ and K8.