[manolin]

Originally Posted by miharbe

I mean i am scratching my head thinking what feature is this missing.

They have gotten the third row seating completely wrong.

[nitinralli]

Excellent pricing by Mahindra. Well done.

My only concern is that since this would be sold by Mahindra from current dealers, hence they would be serviced by them too, right? Now the issue would be (what i feel) with so many XUV's sold, there's already too much work load on service guys (thanks to all its Niggles). Now Rexton too would end up with them resulting in chaos at service centers. Not to forget, people buying 20 lakh car would want all the attention, resulting in more pressure to those poor service guys. Hope they come out with some plans on this.

[bigron]

Great write up , thanks for sharing. They have managed to get quite a few things right in the first phase. The pricing seems alright , the car looks non offensive , has all the creature comforts and best comes with a diesel heart in both MT and AT. Now lets hope the product per se is good enough once it hits the road and people have clocked some kms and mahindra does not kill it with their questionable A.S.S .

[cawnpore ghost]

Progressive launches of impressive SUV's catering to almost all segments from the pennywise to the affluent club, Mahindra seems to be the most hard working manufacturer leaving Tata to bite the dust, considering multiple launches to be a difficult feat.

Hope all the hard work pays in magnificent sales numbers for Mahindra and serves as yet another wake up call for Tata considering they have the mother of global SUV sales, the stunning LR Evoque, in their inventory, which contributes to a majority of group's global turnover.

[StarScream]

The Rexton's positioning means the Korando will fit in the 15-16 lakh range - I guess with that Mahindra will have the low to high SUV market all sown up. One has to give them credit where it's due - they've stuck to their core area and delivered.
As far as quality issues are concerned, no one in my opinion buys a Mahindra product expecting perfection. That's why they are cheaper. Quality costs more but at least consumers now have the choice to make that tradeoff.

Now the actual chief competitor for Fortuner has arrived.

Lets see how it will impact the sales numbers of premium SUV's.

Servicing this vehicle would be a difficult job for mahindra. Lets see how its being done. I hope a new thread will be started soon with the title " Rexton niggles thread"

[MHG]

My Reactions:

1. Going purely by features, XUV500 offers everything for the general masses except AT. So I expect XUV500 to cannibalize the sales of the RX5 a lot.
2. Omission of Curtain Airbags is shocking.
3. What is the 3rd row seat for ? It does not seem to lack legroom, but seems like something where one would sit cross legged. Perhaps space to do some meditation in sukhasan ? But I do see it primarily being used for the kiddies.
4. Mercedes-Benz engine and automatic gearbox. If its advertised by the sales people, I see this as a definite USP.
5. The automatic RX7 should sell the most. It ticks every checkbox a premium buyer would look for (except brand that could change soon). Atleast 90% of bookings if not more will be this version is my prediction.
6. The gearshift controls on the steering wheel is a definite novelty factor.
7. Vehicle looks clean, not too on-your-face and elegant. This ISN'T something that Indians look for typically. We normally love butch, loud and big (T-Fort, F-Endy, XUV ring bells here). This seems more gentlemanly. Hence the 5000 production target in initial year seems somewhat reasonable.
8. I suppose reliability would be higher than XUV500 and also the failure rates of the numerous gadgets to be lower since this is a refined Korean vehicle. This and the automatic are reasons enough to put the RX7 in a league above the XUV500.
9. How does Mahindra hope to service this monster ? There are enough stories about their mechanics crying about the XUV500 being hard to understand, then what about the Rexton ? Mahindra need separate service centers for their premium offerings - starting with the XUV500 and then moving to the Rexton and other SsangYong vehicles. This point needs immediate attention by Mahindra. Otherwise the "premium-ness" would get reduced.
10. The pricing looks too good to be true. If response is good (it will be) I expect the 17.67 to move to 19.67 and the 19.67 to 23-something.
11. If all goes well, could this be the future king of the D2 Segment ?
12. Overall, this is the best way to launch the SsangYong brand in India. Looking forward to their other vehicles.

[shankar.balan]

Wonder what the on road BLR price would be! The vehicle certainly looks purposeful and competent.

Decent pricing too ex Mumbai! So do you think, guys, that this is the long kiss goodbye to the Pajero and the Outlander and the end of the reign of Fortuner supremacy?

Also, would like to know if the M&M chaps plan to leverage the existing dealerships to sell these and the existing service facilities to look after the vehicles.
If so, then there is going to be chaos in the ranks!

[svdath]

Keeping in mind that SsangYong has not been a great seller outside Korea, i would plunk my INR 20L+ on a known devil in Aria rather than this one. I feel that except for key features of AT, as a day-to-day user, a lot of the other ones might not be really be a deal breaker

PS: This is my personal view point

[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by KPS

By the way this is the second SSanYong vehicle to hit our shore. The first was as a Mercedes Van

Cheers

KPS

Technically it would have to be the third in that case. The XUV, to all intents and purposes is a Ssangyong that they were working on when Mahindra bought out the company. They then completed the project and Indianised it.

Still a good deal provided we have Ssangyong quality levels and A.S.S levels are good. That would have to be the biggest concern for any potential buyer.

Pricing seems good though I hope post holiday season they do not raise it too much. That could well kill the product. As of now, the pricing is good enough to attract potential buyer despite an unheard of (for the average person) brand name. I think the reason to put the by Mahindra there was to assure potential consumers that it was a trustworthy brand.

[MAS]

Great Report

This looks like a wonderful SUV, with lots of bells and whistles, except that Ssangyong is not a well known brand. If marketed properly, this Rexton has potential to eat into the sales of the Fortuner, Endeavour, Captiva, Koleos and the Pajero.

[AWD]

While all the energies were focussed on the Safari Storme launch, the thing here turned out to be the real surprise package. International quality at a good price.

From the report above, the vehicle looks impressive. SUV's like Endeavour, old Pajero, Captiva, Outlander, Koleos, X-Trail should be worried. While Fortuner still rules the roost becasue of the "T" badge.

TD reports & initial buyer experiences will help a lot. Guess this one should turn out to be more reliable than XUV, Safari.

[PranavDesai]

First of all I would say the site http://www.ssangyongrexton.in/rexton-home.html itself was very impressive. Compared to it the Safari site took ages to open.

I have some reservations about this vehicle. The brand is almost unknown in India. It will be serviced by the same Mahindra technicians who are still trying to cope with XUV-500 niggles. My estimate is that XUV itself will take another year or so to settle down with the mechanics. Imagine if something goes wrong in Rexton. The overall design is quite impressive, but to me it does not have the "butch" looks of Fortuner. Despite high GC and 4x4 capabilities, this looks more like a lifestyle vehicle rather than a rugged SUV. The XUV AWD will be a safer bet than Rexton MT. If I want an AT I would rather take my chances with Captiva AT.

The placement of controls on the steering is a bit weird, looks like a caterpillar! Rexton would definitely find some buyers, but the craze would be nowhere near the XUV. The main attraction is the MB engine and transmission. Rexton looks best in black.

If Korando is placed between XUV and Rexton, just look at the line-up: Quanto, Xylo, Bolero, Scorpio, XUV, Korando, Rexton. Tata will have to work very hard now.

[SmartCat]

Love the looks, both inside and out! Mahindra seems to be at the right place at the right time these days.

I don't see anything wrong with the ergonomics of the third row seat. It seems to have awesome under thigh support for 5 year olds!

[miharbe]

Originally Posted by manolin

They have gotten the third row seating completely wrong.

Agree the seats are totally impractical. Will be checking the car out tomorrow most probably and will update on how that experience goes!

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

that this is the long kiss goodbye to the Pajero and the Outlander and the end of the reign of Fortuner supremacy?

Also, would like to know if the M&M chaps plan to leverage the existing dealerships to sell these and the existing service facilities to look after the vehicles.
If so, then there is going to be chaos in the ranks!

perhaps tougher times ahead for the Pajero and Outlander and also the Endeavour, Santa Fe and Captiva (last 2 being Korean if i am not mistaken! and direct competition in some sense). Have my doubts if it can have a serious enough dent on the Fortuner as it still remains a benchmark. Perhaps and this is wishful thinking, Toyota might introduce an AT variant for the 4x4.

They do have the Purple club extended for the Rexton owners as well (atleast thats what the website says) so one can expect preferential treatment in service.