Mahindra lowers ground clearance of XUV500; price to drop by three per cent

Mahindra has lowered the ground clearance of the XUV500 from 200mm to 160mm in a bid to avail a three per cent excise duty benefit being offered to vehicles with such levels of ground clearance. The move is to counter the effects of the new excise duty rules with regard to ground clearance and engine capacity that came into existence after the after the 2013 Union Budget.   

The 2013 Union Budget had announced that vehicles with a ground clearance of over 170mm or an engine above 1500cc will be taxed at 30 per cent rather the previous 27 per cent. Most of the vehicles in Mahindra’s range fall under this category, putting them in a situation where they are unable to competitively price their vehicles. To make up for the lost ground clearance Mahindra has installed a skid plate to protect the underbody.

Mahindra is yet to announce revised prices and at the time of publishing this article, the XUV500’s price page on its official website was still being revised.  We had earlier reported that Mahindra was planning to launch a cut-price variant of the XUV500 (mostly likely to be called the W4 variant) and with the revised ground clearance; it is likely to get even cheaper now. 

Source: ET