Mahindra and Mahindra will be announcing the official brand name of its much anticipated modern MPV, codenamed U321 in Mumbai today, on 31st July 2018. The brand name announcement will be done in the presence of Rajan Wadhera President – Automotive Sector Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd and Dr Pawan Goenka Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. The live stream video of the announcement ceremony is provided below. Scroll down for details and spy images of the U321 MPV
Update 12 : Q&A Session starts –
What is the positioning?
Don’t want to take on anyone, though wish to create on sub segment. Price should be in line with the features explained in the presentation
Footprint – can you elaborate?
Wheelbase x track, very large and very comfortbale.
Launch timeline ?
This one will be launched before Diwali, with another launch before Diwali (S201), and one more after Diwali (XUV700).
Update 11 : The new Mahindra U321 is officially called Marazzo – a name for Shark in Basque (Spain) language
Update 10 : Unique roof mounted air conditioning vents for the rear passengers, offering both direct and diffused air.
Update 9: Keywords – exciting, agile, aerodynamic and purposeful – apparenty takes its inspiration from Shark – aerodynamic form, shark teeth inspired teeth, shark fin inspired beltline, tail lamp inspired by Shark fins, so does the shark-fin antenna.
Update 8 : Ananthan Ramkripa, Chief Designer takes the dias to take us through the design philosophy
Update 7: All-new engine, which has good performance, light weight, good efficiency and very good performance range. Very high NVH control.
Update 6 : Apparently the car will be great to drive too, as it needs to appeal to those seeking an active lifestyle and like driving. Feature rich cabin which is well insulated. Fatigue free driving is high on Mahindra’s feature list. Confident at high speeds. Sleek, aerodynamic design. Apparently, largest footprint of any Mahindra vehicle, which means the most amount space inside the cabin for any Mahindra vehicle.
Update 5: Targeting value seekers, business guys and family guys – highlights are space, comfort and Mahindra is touting fantastic build quality, up to world standards. Best in class ride too.
Update 4: President Rajan Wadhera takes the dias
Update 3 : Mr Goenka – It’s a brand new product. To come in 7 and 8 seat configurations. Collaborations between various Mahindra resources in India, Italy (Pininfarina) and USA
Update 2: Mahindra wants the vehicle to be compared to the Innova Crysta, and wants to position it as a premium MPV. They don’t want it to be compared with the Ertiga. Interesting!
Update 1: The event is running late by over 15 minutes. The team is waiting for the media fraternity to come in, which apparently is still stuck in traffic.
Here are some fresh spy images images of the Mahindra U321, courtesy of our reader Abhijit Kalambe
The U321 will be based on an all-new platform developed at Mahindra’s North American Technical Centre. The car is expected to be powered by a new 1.5-litre diesel engine. The exterior will be modern and refined, with some great features on the inside too. The prices are expected to be upwards of Rs 10 lakh, through there isn’t clarity on that topic yet. Some details about the interior and features of the new car along with a video are provided below
- A very horizontally laid out, simple, yet clean dashboard design, which is not very high-set even at the instrument console area. This would facilitate very good visibility for the driver.
- While we’re not sure, that flat surface may easy be recessed to crate trays to make space for anything from documents to keys, to wallets to phones. We wuite like the fuss-free design of the dash.
- Almost the entire area on the dash, on the left of the centre console is done in piano black. The shape of the trapezoidal central and angular side AC vents is also very clearly visible.
- There is a massive screen on the centre console, and we are more than sure this is going to be touch enabled with a whole bunch of features. We believe that the new screen would be richer, more pixel dense and have better designed UI and controls than the XUV500’s touch screen unit.
- The knobs for the AC controls, are also clearly visible. The knobs get chrome bezels and look rather nice.
- There’s a three spoke steering on the car which seems to be all new for Mahindra cars
- There are twin, separate armrests for both front driver and passenger.
- Gear shifter is rather high-set with a long throw – doesn’t seem to be designed in a very car-like fashion, though perfectly in place for an MUV.
- Fabric beige upholstery on the test vehicle. There may be more premium options available upon launch.
- Subtle, tasteful use of chrome in several places is very clearly visible – including inner door pulls, AC vents’ outline, gear knob etc.
