Mahindra S201 compact SUV (Vitara Brezza competitor) to get 1.2 liter petrol and 1.5 liter diesel engines

Mahindra will launch the Ssangyong Tivoli SUV in India by the end of 2018. The codename of the new Mahindra SUV is S201. The S201 will be a heavily modified version of the Tivoli. The Tivoli is a Creta competitor but for the Indian market Mahindra has shortened it. The shortened version (S201) will measure less than 4 meters in length. So it will be a competitor of the Maruti Vitara Brezza, the Tata Nexon and the Ford Ecosport.

The SUV is based on the Ssangyong X100 platform, and it will have a monocoque body. There are many other changes on this SUV to make it suitable for India. Take for example the engines. The Tivoli is sold with 1.6 liter petrol and diesel engines. But such engines for a sub 4 meter SUV in India will result in high excise duties. So Mahindra will instead use 1.2 liter, 3 cylinder petrol and 1.5, 4 cylinder liter diesel engines on the new SUV. These engines will be turbocharged and will be the most powerful ones in the segment.

Rajan Wadhera, EVP, R&D and Global Product Development, Mahindra & Mahindra, has made this statement:

The S201 will be powered by state-of-the-art petrol and diesel engines developed in-house, which will give us best-in-class performance. I am pretty excited with the 1.2 petrol which will come with turbocharging and direct injection.

The petrol engine will feature direct injection and turbocharging, and will have 140 Bhp. The diesel engine will also feature the same technologies but will have a lower power output of 125 Bhp. The diesel engine will have more torque though. Mahindra has already started testing the S201 in India. The vehicle is expected to be revealed at the Indian Auto Expo in February 2018. Price range is expected between 6-10 lakhs.

Via IndianAutosBlog