Mahindra is giving yet another facelift to its flagship model, the XUV500 and a camouflaged model has been spied for the first time. For the uninitiated, the Mahindra XUV500 was launched in September 2011 and received its first mid-life refresh in May 2015. The upcoming facelift is perhaps the XUV500’s one last hurrah before the second-gen model arrives in a few years as it is already over six years old. The 2018 XUV500 has been spied alongside Mahindra's Hyundai Creta rival, the S201 SUV (codename) and the upcoming TUV300 Plus.
2018 Mahindra XUV500: Highlights
- Uprated 2.2-litre mHawk diesel engine with power figures in the vicinity of 170PS/360Nm, a significant bump up over the current 140PS/330Nm
- Mahindra had tried to reduce the quirk in the XUV500’s design with the 2015 facelift to an extent. The upcoming model will likely address the same further
- Launch is expected early next year with a possible 2018 Indian Auto Expo debut
As we reported earlier, the 2018 XUV500 is likely to get a retuned 2.2-litre mHawk diesel engine. Mahindra might be uprating the diesel engine for two reasons. First off, the relatively economical Scorpio facelift is expected to be powered by the 140PS version of the 2.2-litre diesel of the outgoing XUV500 model. Secondly, with the possible power figures of 170PS/360Nm, the updated XUV500 would become more competitive against SUVs such as the Tata Hexa (156PS/400Nm) and the Jeep Compass (173PS/350Nm), compared to the outgoing model (140PS/330Nm). Reportedly, the XUV500 is also getting a new petrol engine.
Source: cardekho.com
