Leading automobile maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) on Tuesday unveiled its all-new platform (Ingenio) vehicle Xlyo. Anand Mahindra, vice chairman and managing director of the Mahindra Group, on the sidelines of the launch at the company?s Nashik plant of the high-end luxury car, stood strong on his earlier statement ?recession is just in the mind?. Mahindra said, ?There are pressures and challenges in the market. But getting the right product out at the right time is the only way to fight it back.? The company will be coming out with two more products from the Ingenio platform in the next two years.

Indicating that Xylo is a multi-faceted offering and not just a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), Pawan Goenka, president, automotive sector, M&M, said, ?What we did not get right at the first time in Scorpio, we have got it right in Xylo in the first stance?.

Xylo is the company?s first new model after a gap of almost seven years, when the company launched the Scorpio sports utility vehicle (SUV) in 2002.

Available in four variants ? E2, E4, E6 and E8, the Xylo, will be in the price range of Rs 6.25 lakh and Rs 7.70 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The car is powered by a 2.49 litre mEagle CRDe engine, which delivers 112 bhp with 24-kilogram metre torque over a range of 1,800 to 3,000 rpm. The engine is meshed with a five-speed manual gearbox and has been built on the Scorpio NEF CRDe engine family with technological advancements.

Targeting sedan customers, Goenka said that even the basic model (Xylo E2) has features that a sedan buyer will be looking forward to. The car will take on the popular Toyota Innova in the market and will be available at 57 select dealerships to start with.

The company plans to start exporting to South Africa before the end of this year and then plans to launch it in other left-hand markets. M&M enjoys around 45% market share in the utility vehicle (UV) segment.

In the Indian car market, 19 vehicles sold out of every 100 is a UV while the rest are cars whereas the Asian average is 40 out of 100 vehicles sold are UVs, so there is a huge gap for UVs to fill.

Travel for the story was sponsored by Mahindra & Mahindra Group.

Cost factor

Variants Price (ex-showroom Delhi)

Xylo-E2 Rs 6,24,500

Xylo-E4 Rs 6,69,500

Xylo-E6 Rs 7,32,500

Xylo-E8 Rs 7,69,500