[Aditya]

Thanks to BHPians Dramadude, Duckdoc, ashishk29, jagzrk, anthusiast and vivee90 for sharing this information with other!



Mahindra has hiked prices of the XUV300 by up to Rs. 39,000. Prices of the petrol variants see hikes ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 36,000, while the diesel variants have become costlier by Rs. 27,000 to Rs. 39,000 (ex-showroom).

Despite the price hike, Mahindra has deleted some features in the XUV300. The rear seat now gets only two 3-point seatbelts, which means the middle passenger gets only a lap belt. The car no longer gets heated ORVMs either.

Dramadude’s friend recently bought a W8 (O) and was surprised to find the 3-point seatbelt replaced by a lap belt.



Similarly, Duckdoc, who bought a W8 (O), was disappointed to find the 3-point seatbelt missing.

Ashishk29 highlighted that Mahindra had stopped providing heated ORVMs in the XUV300 as well.



Jagzrk received a call from a Mahindra SA saying there has been an increase of approximately Rs. 40,000 in the ex-showroom price of the Diesel W8 (O) AMT variant.

Anthusiast shared that the price hike would result in the on-road price of the W6 Petrol AMT being increased by a whopping Rs. 60,000 and that of the W8 Petrol MT being increased by Rs. 70,000!

Vivee90 shared that the W6 Diesel sees a hike of Rs. 90,000 in its on-road price!

Petrol Variants:

The W4, which was earlier priced at Rs. 7.95 lakh, now costs Rs. 7.96 lakh - an increase of Rs. 1.000. The W6 and W6 AMT, which were priced at Rs. 9.40 lakh and Rs. 9.95 lakh respectively are now priced at Rs. 9.70 lakh and Rs. 10.25 lakh respectively, reflecting a price hike of Rs. 30,000. The W8 is now priced at Rs. 10.31 lakh, which is Rs, 31,000 more than before. The W8 (O) gets a price hike of Rs. 35,000 and now costs Rs. 11.47 lakh, while the W8 (O) AMT has gotten dearer by Rs. 36,000 and is now priced at Rs. 12.13 lakh.

Diesel Variants:

The W4, which was earlier priced at Rs. 8.70 lakh, now costs Rs. 8.97 lakh, which reflects a price hike of Rs. 27,000. The W6 which was priced at Rs. 10.00 lakh earlier, is now priced at Rs. 10.31 lakh reflecting a price hike of Rs. 31,000. The W6 AMT now costs Rs. 10.95 lakh, which is Rs. 33,000 more than before. The W8, which was earlier priced at Rs. 11.15 lakh, is now priced at Rs. 11.50 lakh, which is Rs, 35,000 more than before. The W8 (O) has gotten dearer by Rs. 37,000 and now costs Rs. 12.27 lakh. The W8 (O) AMT, which was earlier priced at Rs. 12.55 lakh is now priced at Rs. 12.94 lakh, reflecting a price hike of Rs. 39,000.

[ashvek3141]

Perfect recipe of how NOT to sell an already low selling car!

Top end Diesel with AMT @ 13 L? Seriously? Why would someone get this over the Sonet D AT retailing @ 13.20 L ex? I get that this is a safe car an all, but commanding such premium is too much especially for an AMT. It would have been still OK if Mahindra were to offer the Diesel in a proper AT guise & for sure it would have made a sweet deal. But 13 L ex for an AMT is too much of an ask.

[shreyascashyap]

This isn't a new deletion. If I'm not mistaken, these were removed in Sep/Oct 2020 itself. My Dec 20 W8(O) didn't come with these features either. However, there was a substantial price cut when these features were removed. In the few months since then, I guess prices have gone up by close to a lakh rupees.

[Latheesh]

Where do they get these kind of crazy ideas from?

Ford and Mahindra engineers were working together for sometime and some Tata employee has moved to Mahindra recently.

Ok, now I know.

[vivekgk]

It seems like Kia is paying off other car companies' execs to make suicidal decisions. It makes absolutely no sense to increase the prices in this market, especially for a product that is on no one's radar when they'e looking to buy a new car.

I have a friend who had booked a Kia Sonet IMT model. She waited for months for the car, but recently they told her that the delivery would take longer, and now she's cancelled the booking and gone for an Ecosport diesel, partly because she had driven mine and liked it. I asked her what other cars she'd considered, and she said she had eliminated the Brezza because of no diesel option, Nexon because of the styling, and the Magnite/Venue/Kiger because of the waiting period. She had not even thought of the XUV300. I had recently considered trading in my Ford for an automatic, and it wasn't until I saw the Petrol AMT launch news that I remembered the XUV. For all its features, the XUV is a very forgettable CUV. It has a fine powertrain, but lacks the flair of the Sonet, the musculature of the Ecosport or even the quirkiness of the Venue.

XUV needs a facelift, and better gearboxes. They already have a nice Aisin box from the bigger XUV, all they need to do is to fit it on both these engines, and it will do incredibly well, especially with the lower loads. They're not doing the volumes anyway, they'll at least get the enthusiast crowd. If they bring out the XUV with a proper auto box, I'll buy one, and I won't be alone.

At present, the only cars in the range with proper automatics are the tin-can Sonet, and the bland Brezza. I'm not sure about the Kiger/Magnite yet and I'll wait for the crash tests to be done on the Indian models.

[CEF_Beasts]

Why are so many manufacturers deleting features recently?!

Hyundai: Removed electric ORVMs and shifted indicators to the fender for the base Creta E variant.

Ford: Usual feature deletions every 6 months and the EcoSport SE variant’s no spare wheel is an absolute joke.

Tata: Removed physical buttons from both Nexon and Altroz.

Toyota: Removed rear defogger from the Innova Crysta’s base GX variant.

Mahindra: As mentioned for the XUV300.

Skoda: Removed the magnetic/removable torch and heated steering from the MY2021 Superb. (Although latter was not required in India’s climatic conditions)

How much costs are manufacturers saving by deleting these small features. Definitely leaves a sour taste for buyers.

[armaan_singh]

This car had all the potential to be the top seller in the segment. I know many folks who were happily paying a lot of premium for this XUV. I never understood how Mahindra were able to turn this into a sales dud. At a time when they should have been racing to gives this thing a proper automatic gearbox, here they are deleting segment first features and hiking prices even more.

[TorqueIndia]

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

Why are so many manufacturers deleting features recently?!

How much costs are manufacturers saving by deleting these small features. Definitely leaves a sour taste for buyers.

Looks like manufacturers are rationalising and optimising the use of electronics in their products, might be related to chip shortage or parts availability. Saw few posts like Mahindra is shipping cars without headunits.
Manufacturers are already in deep trouble with lockdowns and uncertainity regarding the COVID, we will have to account the long term impact on their operations in the coming days.

[landcruiser123]

I can forgive Hyundai for removing rear disc brakes and side airbags on the i20, but removing a 3-point seatbelt, which is an active safety device, for the middle passenger is unforgivable IMHO.

[Thermodynamics]

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

Why are so many manufacturers deleting features recently?!

Net profit margin of most manufacturers in the last year has reduced substantially, it even went negative for some quarters. The Behemoth wasn't immune either.

Financials of a few listed companies are presented below.

M&M


Tata Motors


MSIL

[Nilesh5417]

Price hikes were expected due to rising input costs. While removing a safety feature isn't the best idea, how many honestly wear seatbelts at the rear? Esp the middle seat?? Never seen anyone, not in the city ever at least and pretty rare on the highway too. Manufacturers make such decisions post launch probably cause we all just want the NCAP ratings but never use some safety features that go into making the drive safe.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

Perfect recipe of how NOT to sell an already low selling car!

Average sales over the last 6 months is 4000 XUV300s / month. That's not slow-selling at all. In fact, keeping in mind the Mahindra badge + small boot + premium pricing + lack of a proper AT, I would actually call it a success!

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

Why are so many manufacturers deleting features recently?!

A few could be due to Covid-related supply issues, although a majority are plain old Mr. cost cutting.

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

While removing a safety feature isn't the best idea, how many honestly wear seatbelts at the rear? Esp the middle seat?? Never seen anyone, not in the city ever at least and pretty rare on the highway too.

Informed BHPians (yours truly included) make all rear passengers buckle up, especially on the highway. Please don't punish the 1% of us, for the 99% that don't use rear seatbelts.

[Duckdoc]

The sad thing is, as pointed out by others, in spite of the label and small boot, this could have been a segment leader with the features which have been removed and the great engine.
If there was cost cutting to be done, the sun roof could have been removed. All said and done, the sun roof is an appendage which doesn't save lives in contrast to the rear 3 point seat belt.

[Nilesh5417]

Originally Posted by GTO

Informed BHPians (yours truly included) make all rear passengers buckle up, especially on the highway. Please don't punish the 1% of us, for the 99% that don't use rear seatbelts.

I get them to buckle up too but i just don't seem to be able to convince some of them. Esp like when friends are at the back! How do we get this 1% pool to go up so that manufacturers don't take such decisions even if they meet the basic norms is the question. No short answer to this though - been discussed to death in Maruti and all other safety threads.

[Duckdoc]

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417

Price hikes were expected due to rising input costs. While removing a safety feature isn't the best idea, how many honestly wear seatbelts at the rear? Esp the middle seat?? Never seen anyone, not in the city ever at least and pretty rare on the highway too. Manufacturers make such decisions post launch probably cause we all just want the NCAP ratings but never use some safety features that go into making the drive safe.

I agree many don't wear rear seat belts but that doesn't mean they should not be there. As someone who regularly deals with victims of accidents, I remain very concerned about seat belts, as I've seen some horrendous injuries of people being thrown out of the car and thrown inside the car.
The 3 point seat belt, introduced by Volvo, is estimated to have saved more than a million lives, which is why it doesn't make any sense removing a feature which was already there.
The way I look at this is, the cost of a seat belt is a few thousand bucks versus the cost of a human life which cannot be measured.