India loves its SUVs. Be it big brawny go anywhere ones or the small compact city dwellers. So why can’t compact SUVs compete with hatchbacks which are the present rulers of Indian roads? That’s exactly what the folks at Mahindra seems to have taken into consideration while building the S101, whose market name is expected to be XUV100.
The S101/XUV100 has been, for the first time, spotted in near production ready form by a Team BHP member. The lone pic gives us a clear idea of how the finished rear looks like and as we have said earlier there is a clear resemblance with Hyundai’s Grand i10.
The compact SUV gets big wraparound tail lamps which cut into the tail gate, giving it an interesting shape. The small rear windscreen has been curved and is bordered by a roof mounted spoiler which seems to be an extension of the roof itself. The rear bumpers get chrome surrounded reflectors and a similar treatment at the front fog lamps is expected. Rear wash and wipe feature is present hinting at the possibility that this may be a higher variant.
XUV100 is expected to come with an all-new 1.2 litre petrol engine along with the 1.5 litre diesel mill from the TUV300 (possibly in a detuned form). Against what we had thought initially, it may be Mahindra’s way of competing against smaller rivals like the WagonR and Hyundai’s i10.
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That brings us to the most important part of the story – the number plate. The temporary registration plate of this XUV100 reads ‘PB’ which is for Punjab. So is this a display vehicle and not a test mule (the white sheet of paper covering the new car also hints at the same possibility)?… Which, if true, means that Mahindra may have already started trial/mass production of the micro SUV and its launch can be expected within the next 2-3 months…
