Jan 14 2009
MOST AWAITED MAHINDRA XYLO LAUNCHED
Utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra launched its multi-purpose vehicle Xylo at its Nashik plant on Tuesday.
Xylo, with its competitive price ranging from Rs 6.24 lakh to Rs 7.69 lakh, is pitched against not only MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) market leader Toyota Innova but also midsize sedans including Ford Fiesta and Maruti SX4.
Mr Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra, reiterated the pre-launch advertising slogan for Xylo – “the era of sedan is under serious threat.”
According to Mr Mahindra, comparatively lower price and additional comforts it offers would help Xylo beat the current downtrend in the automotive market.
“There is clearly pressure on market all around world. But if you come out with right product at right price, there is a huge overhang of demand that you can capitalise,” said Mr Mahindra.
A NEW PLATFORM
Xylo, which was under development for four and a half years, is coming out of an all-new platform called Ingenio. It is six and a half years since Mahindra launched a new platform in the UV segment.
“The entire product development has cost Rs 550 crore,” said Mr Pawan Goenka, President, Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra. “The product development process has improved significantly in the last six and a half years. We hadn’t got everything right the first time when we launched Scorpio. We have got everything right in Xylo the first time.”
Mahindra has the capacity to produce 25,000 units of Xylo a year which, the company officials said, can be ramped up based on demand. “We are assembling Xylo and Scorpio on the same line. So we have got that flexibility,” said Mr Goenka.
GLOBAL LAUNCH
He said that Xylo will have its global launch in South Africa by the end of this financial year. The product will later be launched in other markets, including Europe where tougher emission standards are in place, he said.
Xylo will be available in 57 select Mahindra dealerships in January and another 44 from February.
While Toyota’s low-end Innova E costs Rs 7.60 lakh, the low-end version of Mahindra MPV, Xylo E2, at Rs 6.24, comes with greater comforts including power steering, power windows and central locking. Toyota’s high-end Innova G4 is priced Rs 9.29 lakh while Mahindra’s high-end variant Xylo E8 costs Rs 7.69 lakh and offers additional comforts including digital drive assist system and flatbed front seats, said Mr Rajesh Jejurikar, Chief of Operations, Mahindra & Mahindra.
The XYLO has been created with customers for developing a vehicle around the lifestyle and aspirations of its end-customer, it said. The vehicle has gone through testing in India and other countries, Mahindra said. “XYLO has been developed by a team consisting of 160 experts who have created new benchmarks in styling, technology and performance,” Mahindra Auto President Mr Pawan Goenka said in a release.Xylo has gone through testing in India and other countries and pictures of disguised Xylo is freely available in net. Xylo is expected to be priced between Rs6.5 lakh to Rs7.5 lakh and will compete with Toyota Innova and upcoming Tata Indicruz Crossover. Mahindra will launch the Xylo by December 2008.
Mahindra’s earlier launched Voyager van jointly with Mitsubishi in the MPV segment. 10-seater Voyager was originally sold as a family vehicle, it was later touted as an ambulance and even a mini-bus but none of the variants went well with Indian customers. Voyager was found to be steeply priced and failed. After the failure of Voyager, Mitsubishi departed from Mahindra alliance and joined hands with Hindustan Motors.
As we earlier reported Xylo may also gets a petrol engine in addition to the Common rail diesel engine. For Xylo, Mahindra may source the petrol engine from its logan partner Renault. The common rail would be the 2.6L one which is already doing duty in Scropio. Xylo’s engine would produce 100bhp+ max power and 283Nm of max torque. Xylo will also get Mahindra’s latest Fuelsmart technology. Mahindra already said that the MUV being built on Ingenio platform (Xylo) will get this system. Micro hybrid variants of Xylo may also be out at the time of launch. Xylo is built on an all new platform and will be an eight seater MPV. As the Xylo will exported to other countries, it is known that Mahindra has paid special attention to the quality of the materials used in Xylo.
