Mahindra acquired SsangYong, the ailing South Korean brand back in the early part of this decade. However, we have seen only one model from their lineup in India so far – the Rexton. It appears that the second one is in pipeline now. We exclusively shared absolutely covered camouflaged pics of Tivoli from Indian streets a few weeks back and Mahindra choose to showcase it at the Auto Expo to further gauge the response.
Tivoli measures 4,195 mm in length, 1,795 mm in width and 1,590 mm in terms of overall height. Powering the compact SUV is a choice of petrol and diesel mills mated with a 6 speed manual or a 6 speed auto unit by Aisin (which the company claims is as efficient as a dual clutch setup).
The naturally aspirated 1.6 litre petrol engine produces 126 PS of power and 157 Nm of torque. The turbo charged diesel on the other hand has the same engine displacement and churns out 115 PS of maximum power and 300 Nm of peak torque.
Tivoli is the latest product developed by Ssangyong and the total development cost saw a total investment of 300 million US dollars and took 42 months. Sales commenced globally in January 2015 and it is expected to be launched in India later this year. While only a 5 seater at this moment, a 7 seater variant is also expected to be introduced sometime soon.
Complete coverage of Auto Expo 2016
SsangYong’s Tivoli has won many accolades in Europe and we would love to see it fight it out in the tough compact SUV territory in India where it will be pitted against the likes of the Creta and Duster. However, it is a low-rider and we hope Mahindra increases its ground clearance for a better show…
