Mahindra To Launch New Base W4 Variant Of XUV500

Published: Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 16:18 [IST]

Mahindra's flagship SUV, the XUV500, has done well for the SUV maker despite belonging to the premium segment. But the good days are now fast becoming history and its not really Mahindra's fault.

While the XUV500 has sold some 50,000 units since its launch last year, sales numbers have started going south in recent months. Sales plummeted from 3721 units in January to 2253 units in April. Contributing to the sales decline is the tax hike imposed on SUVs.

To counter the negative trend Mahindra is now planning to launch a new base variant for the XUV500, says Team-BHP. The new variant, reportedly called W4, is expected to be launched in a few months time.

There are presently no details regarding the W4 base variant, however, we suspect Mahindra will take the easy path, cutting down on some of the electronic features found in the existing base variant, W6, that starts at INR 12 lakhs.

Also, considering what Mahindra said about bringing down the ground clearance of existing models to exempt them from additional customs, could it be possible that the rumored W4 base variant will be not as high riding as the existing XUV500 models? We await more details.