Mahindra has decided to give its XUV500 and Scorpio SUVs a smaller 1.9-litre diesel engine.
Mahindra has decided to give its XUV500 and Scorpio SUVs a smaller 1.9-litre diesel engine. This decision does not come as a surprise as the manufacturer is losing 4 percent of its overall passenger car sales in the Delhi NCR due to the ongoing diesel car ban.
Mahindra, India’s own SUV manufacturer has decided to plonk in a smaller 1.9-litre diesel motor under the hood of its two bestselling premium SUVs. Cars using engines more than the 2.0-litre capacity were banned in the national capital and surrounding regions due to the horrific air pollution conditions in the city. Delhi was ranked as the most polluted city in the world, after which this particular rule was implied last month. Almost all SUVs from the Mahindra range use engines that have diesel engines with displacement more than 2.0-litres which in turn has led to a major drop in sales.
The new 1.9-litre diesel has been developed in house by Mahindra but is expected to produce a lot less power than the 120BHP and 140BHP on the Scorpio and XUV500 respectively. Torque figures and gearbox options are likely to remain the same. The SUVs will also be offered with petrol engines in the near future in defence to the current ban. The Mahindra KUV100 that has just been launched was launched with a 1.2-litre petrol engine from the new mFalcon engine family. So expect either a 1.5-litre, 1.6-litre or 2.0-litre iteration from the same range of petrol engines to power the two SUVs.
In September last year, Mahindra had launched the TUV300 compact SUV with a 1.5-litre diesel engine that is not restricted by the ban. Similarly the upcoming Quanto facelift too will use the same engine exempting it from the ban. Sources have also confirmed that ARAI has approved a Scorpio prototype with the 1.9-litre diesel engine and could go on sale in a couple of weeks time, probably during the 2016 Delhi Auto Expo.
