First lot of Mahindra Scorpio SUV: Rare pictures

It was the year 2002 when Mahindra first launched the Scorpio in the Indian market. It was Scorpio that put Mahindra on the radar of the general public and people started considering Mahindra’s vehicles also. Here, we have some rare pictures of the first lot of Scorpio being produced at Mahindra’s production facility located in Nasik. The pictures are shared on Instagram by Siddharth.

Before Scorpio, Mahindra was only making utility vehicles like Armada, Bolero, Classic etc. So, people only used Mahindra’s vehicles when they wanted an off-roading vehicle or they wanted a vehicle that can take the abuse of rural areas.

At that time, the only SUV in the Indian market was the Tata Safari but it was quite expensive at a starting price of Rs. 8.25 lakhs. When compared, the Scorpio seemed like a steal as it started at just Rs. 5.5 lakhs. It was even more affordable than the Toyota Qualis which was a big hit at that time. For reference, the current generation of Scorpio starts at Rs. 12.77 lakhs ex-showroom.

The Safari was offered with two engine options. There was a 2.6-litre SZ2600 diesel engine that was turbocharged and a 2.0-litre petrol engine that was sourced from Renault. The diesel engine produced 109 bhp of max power and 250 Nm of peak torque. The engine was mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox so it was a good highway tourer as well. The petrol engine produced 116 bhp of max power ad 184 Nm of peak torque. The power was sent to the rear wheels or all four wheels. The SUV weighed a massive 2.5 tonnes. So, it made sense that most people opted for the diesel engine and the petrol engine did not sell well especially because of its poor fuel economy.

Also read: All New Tata Safari: Can a tall adult comfortably sleep in it? (Video)

The Scorpio was the first vehicle to be developed in-house by Mahindra. Some assistance was taken from AVL Austria and consultants from Japan. Only 23 expert engineers worked on developing the Scorpio. The whole project cost Rs. 500 Crores that including design, development and tooling at the Nashik factory.

Brakes on the first generation Scorpio were not that good. It used disc brakes in the front and drum brakes at the rear. Yes, the braking setup might look decent but the brakes had to stop a 2.5 tonne SUV based on a ladder-frame chassis. The SUV used leaf springs at the rear which were then replaced with multi-link coil overs in a facelift. This improved the ride quality significantly.

The SUV was not refined, it was mechanical, there were a lot of noises but it was robust, thanks to the ladder frame chassis and leaf springs. Mahindra offered many official accessories and it also came with factory-fitted customization options. Mahindra has a business vertical called Mahindra Customization who used to customize the Scorpios as per customers liking. He could make changes to the exterior as well as the interior.

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