Mahindra XUV 500 vehicles launched in india at a starting price of Rs 10.8 lakh

Mahindra XUV 500 will be available in both 4x2 and 4x4 variants. Mahindra XUV 500 price Rs. 10.8 lakh

The auto giant will manufacture the new SUV at its Chakan plant near Pune. Designed entirely at Mahindra's R&D centre in Chennai, the XUV promises a lot of firsts for Mahindra. The XUV 500 is the country's first indigenously developed monocoque SUV and also the first to offer a transverse engine layout. Since the XUV 500 is a global vehicle, it was conceived and designed with global standards of quality, technology, testing norms, regulations and emissions right from the very beginning.

The XUV500 is powered by a 2.2litre MHawk engine which is now in an eastwest layout as against a northsouth placement in other Mahindra vehicles. This engine develops 140bhp but more importantly has 330Nm of torque. Mated to this engine is another first for an all Indian vehicle a sixspeed manual gearbox, developed inhouse by Mahindra itself as is the front wheel drive transfer case. Base models will be front wheel drive while another version will have an all wheel drive layout with a torque on demand mechanism also delivering drive to the rear wheels.

The grille of the XUV 500 is different while the front end treatment with projector headlamps LED daytime running lights, large front bumper with streaked air dam and recessed fog lamps make for a menacing look.

The car has disc brakes abound on all four wheels and in addition there is ABS, EBD plus ESP to ensure safety. There are driver and front passenger air bags, start/stop is standard equipment and there is also hill descent control for the top line offering.