[Silver Knight]

I keep wondering how Mahindra manages to clock in decent monthly sales figures for the ageing Scorpio month after month. The base variant of the Scorpio retails OTR 14 lakh plus and go all the way north of Rs 20 lakh for the fully-loaded S11 variant.


Scorpio manages to do 3500+ numbers every month whereas its stablemate XUV 500 does 1/5th of that. Of course, I do agree XUV is almost 3 lakh pricier than the Scorpio when compared variant to variant. Despite the hype Mahindra sells more Scorpios than Thars every month.
I have a Scorpio in my family, and I rate it as an ergonomic disaster. However, my brother vouches for the Scorpio and it is his favourite drive. No doubt, the engine is a gem, and it towers over most of the cars in India.

[TorqueMonster]

There are 4 major reasons for this -

• It's a tough SUV that is abuse friendly
• Reliability and Easy access to spares
• The Scorpio is a cult hero and just like how the Bullet sells based on its appeal, the same can be said for the Scorpio too. The car has a massive fan base even to this day.
• Lastly, it is important to note that a lot of Scorpio users buy the base or middle variants and customize them to their own needs, something which only a few cars in the market such as the Creta and Seltos can offer. Hence a person can buy a car and add the features as he needs, something which very few cars offer in the market right now (Subject to voiding the warranty as the modifications are aftermarket)

These may be the main reason why the Scorpio still sells despite being a competent but ageing vehicle in due need of a update.

[Dr.Abhi]

The biggest downer for me is its pathetic crash test score. How can someone in 2021 buy a car worth 15 lakhs but still doesnt gives two hoots to crash worthiness of the car. Its this attitude of common indian people towards their lives that dares automotive companies in India to launch products with sub par crash worthiness but embellished with sunroof, large displays and what not.

[CEF_Beasts]

It's one of the oldest selling UVs in India. The company has localised the parts well which means the parts are quite reasonably priced and easily available.

Built-to-last and reliable engine, a lot of owners keeps Scorpio for several years without an issue. It's a highly reliable product.

North India absolutely loves Scorpios and is also used a lot by taxi operators up north where it snows. Also car thieves still love it.

Features-wise the car is pretty decently loaded as well! Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, Climate control, TPMS, to name a few. Base/Mid variants are bought the most and then modified.

Safety is not its forte and the handling is all over the place but other than that, it can also run for lakhs of kilometres without much fuss.

[m8002?]

I guess most of it is rural and semi urban these days. I rarely see new Scorpios on Bangalore and Chennai roads. But do see a few on the highways. Whatever the reason, it's a good number for a dated product.

[TrackDay]

There are a couple of factors, but there are some main ones :

• I guess the scorpio gets good sales in certain states, especially in the north. In south India, I rarely come across a new scorpio these days.
  
• Another factor could be it's old school behavior which some folks still associate with. Not everyone cares about ergonomics & safety.
  
• This nameplate rode shoulder to shoulder with the likes of the qualis and original safari, so nostalgia too could be a factor.

[raj_5004]

We had 3 Scorpios - the first one bought in 2003 and the last one sold in 2011 (non-CRDe, then CRDe and finally 120 bhp mHawk).

Even though we have not had a Scorpio in the last 10 years, there has been no major changes in the Scorpio except the dash design and other cosmetic upgrades.

I am a Scorpio fan, but now even I feel that it is too dated, unsafe and needs an upgrade ASAP. Thankfully, we all know that's coming. I just hope the new Scorpio manages to take lineage forward.

The Scorpio has a tight cabin, unsetting ride and poor handling. But there are many things which works in it's favor -

1. The amazing mHawk engine - Owners just love the low end grunt and refinement of this engine. In spite of the many shortcomings, the Scorpio is fun to drive.

2. Reliability - Not a Toyota. But over the years, Mahindra has perfected the Scorpio to be a reliable workhorse.

3. Ruggedness - Unlike the delicate Innova, you can throw around the abuse friendly Scorpio without worrying about any major issues or expenses.

4. Cost of ownership - The spares are cheap, available in every nook and corner of the country and general maintenance costs are cheaper than competition.

5. The brand - Scorpio is a brand within Mahindra today. As others mentioned, it has a cult status. People feel proud to own a Scorpio, something which the XUV5OO could not manage.

It is not possible to justify the high sales of the Scorpio using pure logic or analysis. For some, the Scorpio is just an emotion, maybe a dream come true.

[ruzbehxyz]

Some factors according to me for the legendary Scorpio:

1. Its a Mahindra and Mahindra has a decent network in rural areas.
2. Some added nostalgia.
3. Decent resale.
4. Tall seating SUV. Feel good factor.
5. Can take the beating in rural areas.
6. Excellent engine. The mHawk borrowed from XUV5OO is a gem if an engine.
7. Decent power, torque.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Some factors according to me for the legendary Scorpio:

1. Its a Mahindra and Mahindra has a decent network in rural areas.
2. Some added nostalgia.
3. Decent resale.
4. Tall seating SUV. Feel good factor.
5. Can take the beating in rural areas.
6. Excellent engine. The mHawk borrowed from XUV5OO is a gem if an engine.
7. Decent power, torque.

It is actually the other way round, XUV borrowed engine from Scorpio
Mhawk was introduced in Scorpio in late 2008 initially only in the top end VLX trim.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

It is actually the other way round, XUV borrowed engine from Scorpio
Mhawk was introduced in Scorpio in late 2008 initially only in the top end VLX trim.

Thanks for the update. Yes you are absolutely correct.
In fact the same engine was introduced in XUV5OO in 2011, the only difference was that the XUV5OO had slightly more torque and bhp, probably because it was FWD and Scorpio was RWD.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Thanks for the update. Yes you are absolutely correct.
In fact the same engine was introduced in XUV5OO in 2011, the only difference was that the XUV5OO had slightly more torque and bhp, probably because it was FWD and Scorpio was RWD.

Yes it was re tuned for the XUV and power was bumped to 140 bhp along with a 6 speed gearbox which was further pushed to 15X bhp in current XUV.
Even current Scorpio runs 140bhp power train with 6 Speed gearbox.

[warrioraks]

Originally Posted by Silver Knight

Scorpio manages to do 3500+ numbers every month whereas its stablemate XUV 500 does 1/5th of that. Of course, I do agree XUV is almost 3 lakh pricier than the Scorpio when compared variant to variant. Despite the hype Mahindra sells more Scorpios than Thars every month.
I have a Scorpio in my family, and I rate it as an ergonomic disaster. However, my brother vouches for the Scorpio and it is his favourite drive. No doubt, the engine is a gem, and it towers over most of the cars in India.

Like other members mentioned, Scorpio is a cult. The true bad boy on Indian roads which can serve as first car of the family as well. (under 20 lakh price point)

Mahindra has captured the macho-butch audience spectrum well. On one end, they have Thar and on the other extreme is Alturas:

- If you are a true bad boy with hard core off-roading needs, take a Thar
- Want to add some practicality to Thar, take a Scorpio
- More family oriented folks but still want something macho, XUV500 serves you
- Want a premium off roader? Alturas awaits you

So the short of it, Scorpio typically becomes the entry point for anyone looking to buy a bad boy SUV which at the same time needs to be practical enough for serving family/people movement needs as well.

[udaikalra01]

Most people from my family have worked in the Water Resources Department of Rajasthan. And believe me, I've seen Mahindras all my life. Boleros and Scorpios more than anything else. Not just Government officials, even the contractors from various states like Gujarat, Maharashtra still prefer Scorpio over any other vehicle. Scorpio still rules in rural Rajasthan. Even my uncle (in WRD) was considering the car. But I did not let him go for it because of the poor safety.

All this popularity isn't without any reason. Scorpio has proven itself here over the years. There's still nothing like it in the market in the same price range : rugged and reliable. The Scorpio that my uncle drove had gone through the abuse of construction sites, but still it drove perfectly well. No breakdowns in all those years.

I think that this bullet proof reliability is the biggest reason that it still sells so good. And in my opinion, will continue to bring good numbers as there is simply no other car in the market that can replace the Scorpio.

[balenoed_]

Interesting topic.

Well, there is no other proper BoF SUV under 20 Lakhs (barring Thar). And you have several pretending to be SUV's out there.

There are these bad boys out there, (including me ) where aspirations, uniqueness, old school behaviors etc goes a long way in choosing a vehicle.

I infact added +1 to their sales number when I bought one this last December. Probably my ownership experience posted on the forum can talk more on that.

Here: Owning a 2020 Mahindra Scorpio (Look who joined us - Owning a 2020 Black Mahindra Scorpio mHawk BSVI)

Being owning one of the latest of the current generation Scorpio, as against the general perception of how Scorpio handles (or how bad it is), I can vouch that M&M has significantly improved the road manners of Scorpio in terms of stability, handling & smoothness. I could still drive Scorpio more or less the way how I drive my low slung Baleno Sedan.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Being owning one of the latest of the current generation Scorpio, as against the general perception of how Scorpio handles (or how bad it is), I can vouch that M&M has significantly improved the road manners of Scorpio in terms of stability, handling & smoothness. I could still drive Scorpio more or less the way how I drive my low slung Baleno Sedan.

I own the previous generation one - a 2015 model. It is a quite comfortable ride for me due to its erect position and my family loves the rocking motion due to the long suspension travel - they say it feels like a train and they get good sleep if they take a night ride in it.

It is comfortable even if I cruise at 110-120 for 10+ hours. I used to get badly tired even after 6 hours in my previous Fiesta but then that would do much higher speeds and still feel like it was doing 110-120, very planted.

For the record I’m not macho etc - middle aged and overweight software guy.