Mahindra XUV300 CNG & Electric SUVs in the works

Mahindra is developing CNG and Electric variants of the XUV300 for the Indian market. The CNG version XUV300 will be based on the petrol engined model. The 1.2 liter-3 cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that has been newly developed makes 110 Bhp of peak power and 200 Nm of peak torque. While running on CNG, expect the power and torque figures to dip slightly. But since the engine is already quite powerful, it should still be more than adequate for the Mahindra XUV300 CNG.

Talking of the electric powertrain equipped Mahindra XUV300, product presentations of Mahindra Electric have indicates that the electric variant will have an impressive range of about 250 kilometers. This will make the XUV300  electric good for everyday use, and even for the occassional intercity run. Top speed is rated at 160 Kph while the 0 100 Kph run will take 11 seconds. These figures make the Mahindra XUV300 Electric a good option both for city and highway use. The XUV300 Electric is expected to be launched by the end of 2020.

The CNG variant is expected to make its debut much earlier though, in early 2020, just before the Bharat Stage 6  (BS6) emission norms kick in. Notably, both the 1.2 liter turbocharged petrol and 1.5 liter turbo diesel engines will  be made BS6 compliant, and Mahindra has specifically developed this engine with the new emission norms in mind.  However, both engines are expected to get pricier to build due to the much tighter emission norms. We expect price increases on both the petrol and diesel variants of the XUV300 once the new norms come into effect.

While the quantum of price increase will be mild on the turbo petrol engined variants of the XUV300, the diesel  powered variants could get pricier by over Rs. 1 lakh as the emission control equipment for BS6 compliance is said to  be quite expensive for diesel engines. This is also a reason why Mahindra is moving away from diesel engines on its smaller cars and looking at other cost effective yet fuel efficient options such as CNG-Petrol and LPG-Petrol dual  fuel options.

The Mahindra XUV300 will soon get an AMT option on both the petrol and diesel engined model. The AMT equipped variants are expected to launched in India during this year’s festive season. The AMT unit will work with the existing 6 speed manual gearboxes of the SUV. Price increases of about Rs. 60,000 are likely for both the petrol and diesel versions of the Mahindra XUV300 equipped with the new AMT gearbox. Mahindra launched the new sub 4 meter compact SUV in India just days ago. Prices start from Rs. 7.8 lakhs for the petrol models, and Rs. 8.49 lakhs for the diesel variants. The XUV300 takes on the likes of the Maruti Brezza, Tata Nexon and Ford EcoSport. The SUV is based on the Ssangyong X100 platform, which also underpins the XUV300 compact SUV.