After a long and impatient wait Mahindra and Mahindra finally launched its much awaited Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) the XUV 500 in Goa. The car was launched at the Porvorim showroom of Muktar Automobiles, the Authorised dealers of Mahindra Cars in Goa. The covers were taken off the car by Mr Sheikh Muktar of the SMG group in the presence of Mr Umar Sheikh, CEO Muktar Automobiles, Deputy Director of transport Mr Ashok Bhonsle and Mr Joyce D’costa, Area Sales manager of Mahindra. The event was kept simple and only the prospective buyers who had inquired about the car earlier were invited.
The XUV 500 is presently available only in the 2 wheel drive version as the 4 wheel drive variants are in short supply due to heavy demand and lack of supply. 2 variants namely the W6 and W8 both BS4 compliant are available and costs Rs 11,72,937/- and Rs 13,21,288/- (Both Ex showroom Goa) respectively. The car comes with a 2.2 litre M-HAWK engine mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox and develops a healthy 140bhp and 330Nm of torque. The top end is heavily loaded with features such as Satellite navigation with touch screen, 6 Airbags, climate control with pillar mounted air vents, tyre-tronics, Electronic Stability Program (ESP), rain sensing wipers and light sensing headlights, cruise control in addition to the usual features such as ABS, EBD, power windows, remote central locking, alloy wheels, dual AC etc.
4 cars were kept on display and a test drive vehicle was also present at the venue. The launch marked the opening of the bookings for the car. The car can be booked by paying a partly amount of Rs 40,000/-. The first day saw a whopping total number of bookings of 60. So if you are interested in the XUV 500 and want to buy one than better hurry up. Also watch this space for our in depth comprehensive review of the car.
