What an effort by Mahindra and what a scoop! Not even the Mahindra would have planned for this but it has happened and we ant believe what we are seeing. We are looking at the largest hatchback, and one from Mahindra at that, bearing the name Xylo. Mahindra have gone on and done the unthinkable by chopping off the third row of the Xylo to bring its length to under 4m! The Xylo is 4520mm long for your information, meaning 500mm have come off. The mini Xylo will be classified as a ‘Small Car’ according to Indian rules and will get tax breaks in this form.
To conform to the regulations, Mahindra will introduce an all new 3-cylinder diesel engine as a result of omission of one cylinder from the 2.5 m-Eagle engine. Further, the bore and stroke will be reduced in size to duck under the 1500cc bracket. This will result in 12% saving in excise duty and an approximate price reduction of Rs 50,000 at least. The current Xylo’s body on frame chassis has been shortened and the third row has been given the axe meaning the new Xylo is a 5-seater. Tentatively called the Xylo Junior, it is expected to cost around Rs 5 lakhs and will go head on with the Rio and maybe its sibling, the Logan.
Everybody must agree that such things can happen only in India where rules are meant to be broken and please dont get us wrong but the Jr Xylo is entirely legal. It could open up to a new category of buyers but we are unsure of where this leaves Mahindra’s W101 SUV which would be based on a shortened version of the W201 World SUV platform. We pray that Mahindra does not kill that project. For now, the ugly but rather innovative Xylo will fare well. Stay tuned.
Source : Autocar India
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