Blast from the past: What the Mahindra Scorpio looked like when first launched in 2002

Mahindra Scorpio has become an iconic brand in the Indian market. The car has been around since 2002 and recently, Mahindra launched the all-new Scorpio-N. This picture of Anand Mahindra at the launch of the first-generation Scorpio shows how times have changed.

In the 1990s, Mahindra invested heavily in research to develop and build a new car from scratch. The Scorpio was the brainchild of Pawan Goenka, who was associated with the company until very recently. Goenka joined M&M in 1992 from the R&D unit of General Motors in Detroit. It was Goenka who suggested developing the vehicle from scratch instead of taking a license of tried and tested product.

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Mahindra Scorpio was a gamble and if it did not work, the company would have gone down with it. However, Mahindra launched the Scorpio at around Rs 5.5 lakh, which was a very expensive price tag for a Mahindra vehicle at that time. The Scorpio became very successful in the market and it further gave confidence to Mahindra and Mahindra to bring out newer products.

Mahindra launched the all-new Scorpio to target 45 percent of the market share in the SUV segment in just three years. The Scorpio came with two diesel engine options. This engine was the product of a team of engineers in Mahindra who developed a diesel engine from a low-speed, high-powered diesel tractor engine in 1976. The same engine, which was known as the DI engine was very popular in the Indian market. It also became a favourite option in the rural markets as mechanics were able to get familiar with the engine and repair it in a jiffy.

All-new Scorpio-N

The all-new Mahindra Scorpio-N gets a price tag of Rs 11.99 lakh and it still carries a lot of design characteristics from the original model. Even though the all-new Scorpio looks nothing like the previous generation vehicle, it still continues to get the bold looks, which make the model popular in the first place.

The all-new Mahindra Scorpio gets the new-generation 2.0-litre turbo-petrol and 2.2-litre diesel that also powers the Thar and the XUV700. The petrol engine produces a maximum power of 203 PS and 370 Nm of peak torque with manual and 380 Nm of peak torque with the automatic variant.

The 2.2-litre diesel engine produces a maximum power of 132 PS of peak power and 300 Nm of peak torque. It is also available with a higher state of tune. With the higher variants, it produces a maximum power of 175 PS and peak torque of 370 Nm with the manual and 400 Nm with the automatic. Mahindra also offers the Zip, Zap and Zoom drive modes with the diesel variant.

All the engine options offer the six-speed manual transmission as standard. The higher-spec diesel and the turbo-petrol engine are also available with six-speed automatic transmission. The Scorpio is a rear-wheel drive as standard. The higher-spec diesel variants also get AWD with mechanical rear-locking differentials, ESP-based brake locking front differential, an independent front suspension and a five-link rear suspension.

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