Mahindra is said to be developing a range of new versions
of its popular global crossover, the XUV 500. Confirming the news, Mr
Ruzbeh Irani, Chief Executive Officer of International Operations at
Mahindra, said that M&M has started working on a petrol-powered XUV
500 and an automatic gearbox for the same.
However, there are no plans to bring the petrol-powered
XUV 500 to our shores owing to the fact that here in India,
petrol-powered SUVs are deemed plain gas guzzlers and there’s no real
demand for them whatsoever. The petrol version instead will be sold in
other markets worldwide, probably in the US and Australia where demand
for petrol is as high as diesel, or even more than the latter. The XUV
500 currently comes with a reworked 2.2-litre diesel engine from the
Scorpio and is mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox.
As for the automatic version, Mahindra is presently
working on the gearbox, which is expected to be up and running with some
of the modern units in terms of technology. However, the launch is
still a good two years away before we get our hands on it.