Mahindra launches new Xylo at Rs7.37 lakh, set to take on Innova

SUV major Mahindra & Mahindra on Thursday launched a makeover version of its highly successful model Xlyo with a slew of added features, including the industry's first voice command system, and said the new car will soon enter the international markets.

The new Xylo comes in five variants and is priced at Rs7.37 lakh for the entry model and Rs10.25 lakh for the premium model E9, ex-showroom Delhi.

"The new Xylo marks the sixth new launch from the Mahindra stable this fiscal," M&M chief executive for automotive division Pravin Shah said at the launch function.

The price difference between the new model and the old one is around Rs15,000. When asked if the new model will eat into sales of the XUV500, which has logged in a demand of nearly 34,000 units since the launch late September, Shah said he is not worried about cannibalisation.

"If at all some sort of cannibalisation happens, that's fine with us as long our products are sold," Shah said.

Going by the pricing, the car is likely to give stiff competition to Innova of the Japanese giant Toyota, which is costlier by nearly Rs 3 lakh, and offers lower mileage.

The new Xylo claims mileage of up to 14 km a litre and is packed with over 50 styling changes. It also offers better torque and higher power at 120 Bhp while the Innova offers only 105 Bhp.

On export plan, Shah said, the first focus will be the right-hand drive markets, beginning with South Africa shortly, where it has made the global launch of the XUV500, followed by LatAm markets. However, he did not specify the timeframe.

Already, the Xylo which enjoys nearly 60 percent market pie in the under-Rs 8 lakh SUV segment, has share of 27 percent in the overall SUV segment, after the Innova.

Since the launch in January 2009, in the midst of the post-Lehman Brothers financial crisis, the Xylo has gone on to become one of most successful marketing success stories, selling as many 90,000 units.

"The company will stop production of the old Xylo and the new model is available in the market from today almost across the country, barring the high-end E9 variant," senior marketing vice-president for Xylo and Bolero Vivek Nayyar said.

The new avatar of Xylo, being rolled out from the company's Nashik plant, sports a new look with a new front facia with redesigned headlamps, grill, bumper, air-dams and bonnet, pronounced wheel arches and new footstep with redesigned mud-flaps among others.

The most salient feature is the voice command technology (to control headlamps, doors, wipers, etc) and 15 security warnings in the top-end E9 model apart from the advanced mHawk engine.

"This technology is adopted for the first time ever in the auto industry in the country, probably in the world, and has been developed in-house and is patented," Shah said.