Mahindra is facing a slowdown in sales as the whole automotive industry is going through a silent phase. In order to boom its sales Mahindra is readying up the facelift version of its premium SUV XUV500 and that it with an automatic gearbox though it is not confirm yet. 2015 might be the fruitful year for Mahindra as company will be launching Scorpio AT, SUV 101, and new Gen bolero but apart from these three cars, XUV 500 will also make its way to Indian roads in 2015.
Going by the images which had partial camouflaged at the rear side of the XUV500 we can see that it has chrome appliqué just above the name plate replacing the black finish in the current model, new XUV500 might updated front fascia, new set of alloy wheels. On the inside XUV500 might get a minor nip and tuck.
In 2011 Mahindra has tied up their hands with South Korean car maker SsangYong to develop products jointly with new engines and transmissions. This automatic transmission in XUV500 could be the first such product from the alliance and in early 2015 Ssang Yong SUV Tivoli will be launched in India making it the first product of the alliance.
The heart of XUV500 i.e. engine, will remain same which 2.2L mHawk diesel engine which gene rates 140bhp power@3750rpm and 330Nm torque at 1600-2800rpm, everything will remain same in this section apart from an automatic transmission and tweaked fuel efficiency.
Exact date of its launch has not been disclosed yet but we can expect it launch by mid-2015 and it will compete against Tata safari Strome and Renault duster. Price of an automatic XUV500 might revolve around the top model of manual XUV 500.
According to Y I Lee, President and CEO of SsangYong Motor Company “ We are going to install the Aisin six-speed automatic, which is coming in January 2015, and Mahindra is also considering the same gearbox for the XUV500, so volume wise that is great for us and we can save some money,”
