Mahindra, in an official communication has informed that their flagship SUV XUV500 has reached the 1 lakh sales milestone. The car becomes the only Indian SUV above the sticker price of Rs 10 lakh to cross the 1,00,000 units mark, that too in just 34 months since its launch in September 2011.
The cheetah inspired aggressive looks not only won hearts in India but also in Australia, South Africa, Italy and some South American and African markets. The management is also thinking of expanding to other international markets, which might also include the United States where Mahindra Group is expanding its footprint at a rapid pace.
The XUV500 has also won several tough rallies including the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) and Dakshin Dare. In fact the SUV has often been the choice of India’s ace rally driver, Gaurav Gill, the reigning Asia Pacific Rally Champion. Gaurav Gill recently won the Rally of Maharashtra on board a rally spec XUV500 (featured below). The car has also proved its mettle by winning the 2012 Desert Strom Rally (again by Gaurav Gill).
Mahindra XUV500 has been developed entirely in-house by the engineers at Mahindra. The car also earns the laurels to be the first monocoque chassis by the company. Having sold 35,000 units in the first year (add to that a strong waiting list of 14,000 units), the car broke the 50,000 sales mark in January 2013. The huge popularity of the car has been recognized by Discovery Channel which featured its making in ‘Inside Out’.
Mahindra has very recently started offering an additional 2 years extended warranty on the XUV500 and is preparing a facelift as well as an automatic gearbox for the XUV500 which will be launched sometime next year.
Related: Safari Strome EX (Mid-Variant) vs XUV500 W4 (Entry Variant): COMPARO
