Mahindra’s flagship SUV to be named Inferno?

Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra is all set to launch the flagship SUV of its range in India on November 19. Despite earlier reports that suggested that this re-badged Ssangyong G4 Rexton would bear the XUV700 badge, new developments suggest that Toyota Fortuner rivalling SUV from Mahindra could bear the name Inferno.

Autocar India revealed that Mahindra was dropping the XUV700 nametag for its premium SUV as it wanted to give it a more distinctive identity, something not possible with the hierarchical name. Autocar also claimed that Mahindra would drop its traditional naming scheme of names ending with the letter ‘O’ but this does not seem to be the case if domain listing and activity on Twitter is to be believed.

The Indian carmaker has registered the domain name www.mahindrainferno.com which suggest that one of Mahindra’s two upcoming SUVs – the rebadged Rexton or the S201 could bear the name. However, what clinches the name in the favour of the larger SUV is a new Twitter handle – @MahindraInferno – that popped up on the micro-blogging site in the month of July. Further proof of the rebadged Rexton bearing this name come in the description of the Twitter handle which bears the Korean word for style – 스타일.

The Inferno from Mahindra, which is named after the Italian word for hell, will take on the likes of the Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour and Isuzu MU-X in the premium SUV category of the Indian automotive market. The Inferno, is based on a body-on-frame platform which makes use of Advanced High Strength Steel and is shared with SsangYong’s Musso pick-up truck. The Mahindra Inferno (G4 Rexton) measures in at 4,850mm long, 1,960mm wide and 1,800mm tall. The large SUV features a 2,865mm long wheelbase. The only engine on offer will be a 2.2-litre turbo diesel with 187 Bhp and 420 Nm of torque on offer which will come mated to a Mercedes-sourced 7-speed automatic gearbox.

The Inferno in terms of design will be a rebadged Rexton with a Mahindra badge and grille which means it will retain the original Rexton’s chunky yet bold design and come packed with a host of features including LED headlamps with LED DRLs along with rain-sensing wipers which will be complemented by premium leather upholstery inside along with a large 9.2-inch infotainment display with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

The Inferno will feature a high degree of localization to help keep the costs down. Expect the Mahindra Inferno to undercut the price of the Toyota Fortuner by quite a bit in terms of pricing.