That would be the fastest product correction and engine downsizing we would have seen! Mahindra, in an attempt to bypass the Supreme Court ban on sale of diesel vehicles with an engine displacement above 2,000 cc, has launched a new version of its mHawk diesel engine. It was the worst affected vehicle manufacturer when the apex court announced this ban back in December last year.
This new 1.99 litre diesel engine, is the downsized version of the existing 2.2 liter motor and will power both the Scorpio as well as the XUV500. The good news is that, despite the 179 cc deficit, both the SUVs produce identical power output as the original versions – 120 bhp for Scorpio and 140 bhp for XUV500. Torque figures have not been revealed yet.
The new Scorpio 1.99L and XUV500 1.99L will be available only in the national capital and its adjoining regions for now.
Mr Pravin Shah, President and Chief Executive, Mahindra, said…
“This new engine, the development of which started in 2014, is now ready for launch on both the New Generation Scorpio and the New Age XUV500. We do hope that our customers would enjoy driving these vehicles which deliver the performance of our currently on offer 2.2 litre mHawk engines.”
We are surprised at the turnaround time for the development, validation, testing and final production of the smaller 1.99 liter mill and it will allow Mahindra to sell both the front-runners in Delhi by a whisker 0.1cc. How will it change the drivability and other factors, we will know only after driving both of these..
