By : RACHNA TYAGI
CHENNAI :
Talking about the XUV400, R Velusamy, President, Automotive Technology & Product Development, M&M Ltd., says that they started work on XUV400 three years back. “The XUV400 is a typical ICE Converted SUV, a typical intermediary step. We take an ICE vehicle, do a battery fitment, specific to that vehicle and then convert it to electric,” he says.
Pratap Bose, EVP & Chief Design Officer, M&M Ltd., says that every millimeter of the XUV400 is a Mahindra SUV and that there is absolutely “no compromise in any of its characteristics.” He is proud of the fact that the XUV400 is Mahindra’s first car that bears the Electrical Twin Peaks logo which is in a satin “Copper” colour. “Electrons flow through copper and that’s why we chose ‘Copper’ as our accent colour,” he says while revealing that the interiors are black. “Whatever you touch, things such as aircon vents, single lever, or dial for the HMI, that we have accented in Satin Copper – little signals – here is where you touch and here is where you adjust things,” says Bose.
About where the XUV400 fits into the scheme of things, Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director, Auto & Farm Sectors, M&M Ltd., says, “The XUV400 is a very well-placed product because it has the best-in-class acceleration 0-100 in 8.3 seconds! Very safe and very good range of 456 kms, and [it comes] with the space of a ‘C’ segment car. [It is] very spacious [in terms of] the leg space and the boot space,” he says.
“The XUV400 will be very good for women too because it is the right size, it is spacious, compact, very easy to drive, [comes with a] single pedal, all of that,” says Jejurikar.
