Mahindra’s five-seater D-segment crossover spotted

A new rival to the Hyundai Creta, a five-seat SUV from Mahindra has been spotted doing the rounds. This is expected to be their new D-segment player and will also take on the likes of the Renault Duster and Nissan Terrano. This is, in essence, the Indian automaker’s take on the Ssangyong Tivoli compact SUV and will make use of the same underpinnings and probably engine options too. Despite the heavy camouflage, the SUV snapped up in this solitary picture, has the distinct lines of the Tivoli including the face, wedge shaped head lamps and forward sloping roofline that gives it a distinct side profile. However, what is not clear right now is that if this vehicle is the regular Tivoli or the lengthier XLV variant which is more of a match in terms of size to the Creta, Duster and Terrano. This will be a feature loaded vehicle and is expected to get things like multiple airbags, dual zone climate control, leather seats, electrically adjustable driver’s seat, touch screen infotainment system and cruise control. Before we get into positioning, we can also strongly speculate that this SUV/crossover will get an alphanumeric name based on the likes of the XUV 500 and TUV 300.This vehicle will come into a part of the market where Mahindra currently has its legendary Scorpio SUV which has been around for more than 16 years now in one form or another. It is a constant seller and given that we have just recently spotted a camouflaged facelifted model doing the rounds, it is expected to stick around for a while. This means Mahindra is going for a strategy of volumes (Nuvosport, TUV300) and will offer this as a slightly more premium model over the Scorpio. This also indicates that the XUV500 will move up a notch in terms of positioning.  

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