Mahindra XUV700 to lose some features: Here’s why

Mahindra just like every other automobile manufacturer is facing a semiconductor shortage. So, they are trying to come with plans to reduce chip usage in their vehicles. They might be revamping their variant line-up to beat the chip shortage issue.

Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director (Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors), M&M, said, “There are specific shortages of semiconductors that go into high-end products. We may adapt some of our variant offerings in XUV700 to give customers the option of giving up some features on a lower-price setoff, depending on the kind of shortages. We are not forcing the customer to buy the new variant. It is completely up to them to choose.”

Mahindra has already removed the wireless charger from the XUV700. It is quite obvious that the higher variants use more semiconductors than the lower variants because they pack in more equipment and features. The top-end variant of the XUV700 uses 170 chips. Some of the chips are used for the Advanced Driver Aids System that XUV700 comes with. XUV700 already has packed 70,000 bookings and Mahindra wants to deliver 14,000 units of XUV700 by 14th January 2022.

Also read: Buying a pre-owned Mahindra Thar is better than buying a new one: 5 reasons

Mahindra has a pending order of 1,60,000 units and they lost a total production of 32,000 units during the September quarter because of the chip shortage. A few months back, the manufacturer had to dispatch Thar SUVs without the infotainment system. The touchscreen infotainment system was then installed by the dealer. However, because of this a lot of deliveries were delayed because the car was ready but the dealership had not received the infotainment units.

Tata Motors working with JLR to optimise chip usage

Tata Motors has been able to reduce the number of chips used per vehicle significantly. The homegrown manufacturer has been able to halved the chip usage in one specific component that powers the vehicle. Tata Motors did not reveal which component or vehicle it is. For instance, they removed the physical buttons below the infotainment system. Features like the TFT screen for the instrument cluster and push button to start/stop is reserved only for the top-end variants.

Shailesh Chandra, President (Passenger Vehicle Business Unit), Tata Motors, said, “In one component we were able to successfully bring down the number of semiconductors that we were using to half. We have been looking to convert application-specific chips to standard chips and we have gone in for optimisation of chips, which is about reducing usage of chips and validating them in a very short period. We have taken multiple initiatives as part of our semiconductor strategy in light of demand for electric vehicles. We have successfully brought down the use of chips by going with an all-in-one strategy. Many times the components have been different and we have been able to optimise the number of semiconductors and exposure to semiconductor suppliers”

Tata used the expertise of Jaguar and Land Rover. The homegrown manufacturer is currently less impacted when compared to other automobile manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Mahindra.

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