Work has begun on the next-gen Mahindra Scorpio, with a goal to make the tough SUV a global product. Mahindra’s North American Technical Center has been handed the responsibility to get a Concept ready, which will then be handed over to the company’s R&D center at the Mahindra Research Valley in Chennai for engineering and integration. Codenamed ‘Z101’, the project is expected to be ready for mass production by 2020.
The Z101 will be the second platform to be conceptualized at the US based facility after the U321, a premium MPV platform that will lock horns with the Innova Crysta within the next 12 months. The fourth-generation Scorpio will be built on an enhanced architecture of the current version, and will carry a design and features that will compete with global products in developed markets. Sharing a common platform, an SUV and a pick-up truck will introduced.
During an interview, Rajan Wadhera, president of the automotive division at Mahindra, confirmed the company had started work on the new-generation Scorpio, but declined to provide details. However, he did mention that the fourth-generation Scorpio will be one of the first SUVs to sport a new design language at the company. Dropping hints, he mentioned that Mahindra vehicles of the future will sport the same tough and rugged lineage, but “morph and evolve into an object of desire.”
When it is ready, the next-gen Mahindra Scorpio will face equal competition from Tata’s upcoming SUVs, which are also under development and are being built with a lot of learning from their partnership with Land Rover.
Source: ET