Mahindra XUV500 bookings hit the 25,000 mark!

Mahindra XUV500 bookings managed to hit an impressive figure of 25,000 during the second phase of bookings. The second phase of bookings commenced on January 25^th.

The XUV500 was made available for potential buyers in 19 cities which inculdes Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh/Mohali/Panchkula, Ludhiana, Jallandhar, Patiala, Kochi, Trivandrum, Calicut, Trissur, Coimbatore, Nagpur and Nasik.

Bookings for the XUV500 were earlier closed on February 3^rd and once they were re-opened Mahindra received 25,000 bookings within 10 days (between Jan 25^th and Feb 3rd). The demand for the XUV500 is more than the bookings received for some of the recently launched sub-10 lakh cars in the Indian market.

Among the 25,000 applicants, only 7,200 buyers will be picked up through a lucky draw. This is on the lines of how DDA Housing flats are auctioned and even the for first batch (one lakh) of Tata Nano’s was allotted to customers via a computer draw.

The XUV500 draw will be conducted at a central location in Mumbai. The applicants will be randomly picked based on their city/dealer. To ensure credibility, a third party firm, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited (DTTIPL) will validate the draw. The media will also be notified so they can cover the event.

Results of lucky draw

The results of the draw will be announced on or before February 15, 2012 and will also be published on the XUV500’ official website. Mahindra may notify the winning applicants via courier/e-mail/ phone call/ print media. The remaining participants will get their booking amount of Rs. 80,000 refunded within a month’s time.

Price Hike

During the launch, the XUV500 was booked by too many customers and Mahindra had to temporarily close bookings. Even after Mahindra hiked the prices of the XUV500 in Decmeber 2011, the buyers continued to show enthusiasm for the XUV500. The company hiked the price of base variant W6 by Rs. 30,000, mid variant W8 FWD by Rs. 50,000 and the top-end variant W8 AWD by Rs. 55,000. At present, the XUV500 is priced at Rs. 11.10 lakh for W6, Rs. 12.45 lakh fo W8 FWD and 13.43 lakh for W8 AWD.  (All prices are ex-showroom, Delhi.)

Competition

The XUV500 faces competition from the Tata Aria, Force One and the upcoming Tata Safari Storme. Despite the competition, the low price – high features strategy has worked well for the XUV500, helping it get an edge over its rivals.