[harishpr]

Looks like M&M is leaving no stone unturned to make this as their flagship model for few years to come. I'm already liking this beast and few of fellow bhpians commenting on it's torgue and power, i can only imagine how will this look in Complete Black shade on roads with those huge biceps. Mahindra has so far been successful in everything they have ventured (Scorpio, Bolero, Verito as well, ah except Xylo) and im sure W201 will take them to next orbit .. Tata, what you upto ? Can Merlin take on this beast and will it continue being the most affordable SUV in India ?
Can't wait for the launch and TD. I may not get to own one considering their ambition to pitch this with SantaFe, CRVs, Fortuners but will continue to admire them !!!

[shankar.balan]

if they go and over pitch this vehicle at the santa fe, CRV, fortuner and Captiva etc the consumer will not see enough value in the W201 proposition. it will become a repeat of the Aria story - it is not as successful as perhaps was expected on account of its van like looks and very high price.

I think they will pitch the base versions around the mid/top end Scorp and the mid and upper W201's above the Scorp but below the imported breed.
I think the Korando will also be a strong contender in this similar space.
end of the day it will result in some amount of cannibalization but will also serve to widen the market at that segment.

However, despite all this, I still lament that no one at all amongst these manufacturers are focussed on giving a high quality, feature loaded, fully functional, utility SUV at a "fair price" to the Indian consumer!

Originally Posted by harishpr

Can't wait for the launch and TD. I may not get to own one considering their ambition to pitch this with SantaFe, CRVs, Fortuners but will continue to admire them !!!

[singhupinder]

From the looks of it Mahindra seems to have another winner in its hands. It looks impressive, the proportions are spot on ( lessons learnt after the Xylo ) and should be well equipped as well. I hope that Mahindra has worked the on handling and high speed stability and it doesn't have the skateboard handling of its sibling, Scorpio. If priced competitively it is bound to give other manufacturers sleepless night's.

I hate the color of the seats in the pics on page 50.

[shankar.balan]

There are likely to be some interesting leather seats and trim for the mid and upper end version (s). If they are executed well, these would really be of a high order.
The fabric options of these would probably be given to the public in the lower end version (s).
But both the leather and fabric seats/ trims do definitely require a significantly higher level of quality and finesse, which improvements, I am sure they will attend to in the bulk production.

Originally Posted by singhupinder

From the looks of it Mahindra seems to have another winner in its hands. It looks impressive, the proportions are spot on ( lessons learnt after the Xylo ) and should be well equipped as well. I hope that Mahindra has worked the on handling and high speed stability and it doesn't have the skateboard handling of its sibling, Scorpio. If priced competitively it is bound to give other manufacturers sleepless night's.

I hate the color of the seats in the pics on page 50.

[Stratos]

Originally Posted by harishpr

Can't wait for the launch and TD. I may not get to own one considering their ambition to pitch this with SantaFe, CRVs, Fortuners but will continue to admire them !!!

It wont be pitched against the above Suvs. The price distribution will be this way: (Cheaper to Costlier) Bolero > Xylo > Scorpio > W201 > Korando > Rexton.

It will be in the range of Rs.13 - 15 lacs since anything above that will threaten their own international introductions from Ssangyong.

I am sure they have learnt a thing or two about the right pricing looking at what happened with the Aria.

[shankar.balan]

very interesting information indeed. And yes, it more or less bears up with what I have also heard.

So,

If the bottom end version of the W201 is priced at 13 lacs ex showroom in Bangalore, adding taxes and insurance, it will hit around 16.5 lacs on road.- this is about 1 lac more than the top end Scorpio 4WD AT on road price Bangalore.

If the top end version of the W201 is priced at 15 lacs ex showroom in Bangalore, adding taxes and insurance, then like the Skoda Yeti Ambiente version, it will hit around 19 lacs or so on road which price is similar to the price that a new Hyundai Tucson used to sell at in 2007.

Personally I would still say this is an expensive SUV- at least the on road price in Bangalore is expensive - but it certainly looks more affordable from the psychological point of view, than the Captivas, Fortuners, Arias, Santa Fe's and CRV's of this world.

In comparison to the Yeti, it would seem to be greater value because of its much larger size and somewhat comparable features at a similar price. In comparison to the Aria it would seem to be more appealing on account of its SUV look and feel vis a vis the Van feel of the Aria.

It would be nice to see where they reach in terms of fit, finish and overall finesse, in the W201 for this kind of price.

Im wondering where the Korando will fit - thats also a very nice vehicle - if priced at lets say 16-18 lacs ex showroom Bangalore it will get propelled straight into Aria, base level Captiva and perhaps Fortuner territory.

And the Rexton in such a case would actually go to maybe 19-21 ex showroom and directly against the upper level Captiva, Fortuner and could possibly even pitch itself one step higher towards the Santa Fe!

Does this really seem likely - given the Mahindra Ssangyong brand vs Toyota and Hyundai?

All this leads me to think more and more - that Hyundai Tucson was such a great vehicle - perhaps a bit ahead of time. A good used one certainly seems to be great value at 7.5 odd lacs!

And the Duster should actually learn from all this price juggling and come in at a cracking price of Rs 9 - 13 lacs ON ROAD, which will smash the market to smithereens and which will ensure an unprecedented level of consumer migration/ exodus towards the Renault side of things!

this is the kind of thing that Suzuki should learn from - get across the SX4 Hatch with 4x4 and Diesel Power + the old hard top Vitara/ Samurai 4x4 with all the safety bells and whistles and mated to a good VW Diesel engine.
Also the great Toyota should seriously consider the smart RAV4 - with 4WD + Diesel.
Why doesnt Hyundai revive the Tucson and start selling it again at a lower price tag after indigenizing and assembling it in Chennai and leveraging their excellent service network!
Also the Nissan Qashqai and perhaps the Juke!
If these vehicles do land up here at fair prices, then they can sweep the marketplace completely! Suddenly the sedans will falter and the little urban SUV's will fly!

Originally Posted by Stratos

It wont be pitched against the above Suvs. The price distribution will be this way: (Cheaper to Costlier) Bolero > Xylo > Scorpio > W201 > Korando > Rexton.

It will be in the range of Rs.13 - 15 lacs since anything above that will threaten their own international introductions from Ssangyong.

I am sure they have learnt a thing or two about the right pricing looking at what happened with the Aria.

[djpeesh]

Quality will be mighty important. My Safari which is still 7 months old suffered a new issue with the ECU having to be replaced. Don't ask how but the fact remains that as long as Toyota has stellar quality, desi brands like Mahindra and Tata will have to do tons of things to prove their worthy of people's money. And eventually, the market is the best judge of what you choose to price your car at. If the market doesn't think it's value for money, regardless of the 36 new features being constantly shown on your screen, it's not going to get him off the couch and walk to the nearest dealership.

[MaserQ]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

If the bottom end version of the W201 is priced at 13 lacs ex showroom in Bangalore, it will hit around 16.5 lacs on road.- this is about 1 lac more than the top end Scorpio 4WD AT on road price Bangalore.

M&M has to realise that a huge chunk of their UV sales so far has come from rural markets. The W201 is much more of an urban SUV. Expectations will be higher. And Mahindra does not command the brand value of say a Toyota or even a Skoda.

The base version W201 should be taking on the mid-variant Renault Duster at the very least. M&M should take the plunge and price it at Scorpio AT levels. Put it simply, the Scorpio is an over priced piece of machinery that will be left behind very soon as the affordable urban SUV market grows.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

And the Duster should actually learn from all this price juggling and come in at a cracking price of Rs 9 - 13 lacs ON ROAD, which will smash the market to smithereens.

this is the kind of thing that Suzuki should learn from - get across the SX4 Hatch with 4x4 and Diesel Power.

Also the great Toyota should seriously consider the smart RAV4 - with 4WD + Diesel.

Why doesnt Hyundai revive the Tucson and start selling it again at a lower price tag after indigenizing and assembling it in Chennai and leveraging their excellent service network!

Slightly OT, but relevant point nevertheless. Manufacturers have to shift away from the margins mentality of a premium SUV and move into the numbers game.

Little do they realise that there are buyers out there who buy sedans/premium hatches for want of a world class sub-10 lakh SUV. And no, this type of customer does not find the current Safari/Scorpio as a worthy investment.

Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, Ford - you have a whole host of SUVs in your global product kitty. India is ready for the affordable SUV. Bring 'em on I say!

[PAVAN KADAM]

Can anyone tell me what is this..? My friend sent me this on FB

Is this the Real W201 or is it some modified SUV..?

If this is the REAL W201... Then

1) The Grille is out of place
2) The Bumpers- my tinker can fabricate a better design.
3) The LED's look like an aftermarket addition.
4) The Hood lines are terrible and old school
5) The ORVM's are tooo Puny

And. if its not the real W201, Please forgive me for my findings AND I dont want an infraction for this

[Sheel]

Dealers are invited to Barcelona, Spain for some tour between 16th to 19th July. Would this coincide with W201's launch? May be an International launch? Fingers crossed.

[Fortuner71]

Yes this the W201 , confirmed good catch by the way .

[sidindica]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Can anyone tell me what is this..? My friend sent me this on FB

Is this the Real W201 or is it some modified SUV..?

If this is the REAL W201... Then

1) The Grille is out of place
2) The Bumpers- my tinker can fabricate a better design.
3) The LED's look like an aftermarket addition.
4) The Hood lines are terrible and old school
5) The ORVM's are tooo Puny

Its a chinese version of the W201.

[AVR]

Going by the overdone grille and front bumper it surely qualifies for a Mahindra. If not W201, who would ever compete with a Mahindra to concoct something like this.
For the last few days I was actually hopeful of a really good looking W201 based on the last set of test-mule pics but if this is correct, am pretty lost on words.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Is this the Real W201 or is it some modified SUV..?f this is the REAL W201...

Then

1) The Grille is out of place
2) The Bumpers- my tinker can fabricate a better design.
3) The LED's look like an aftermarket addition.
4) The Hood lines are terrible and old school
5) The ORVM's are tooo Puny

Should not the cars have an air dam on the bumper [bottom portion]? And the headlights look too small for the W201. I guess the GC is also not so big for this SUV. All these reasons make me think that this is not the original W201. And I don't think they will ever paint the ORVM with silver when the car is white in color. I remember seeing the spy pics with body colored ORVMs.

Edit:: Running thru the spy pics, the grill DOES look like is spot on ! In the spy pics on page 62, we can see the bottom of the grill is slightly above the grill slot leaving some space at the bottom. And for a white test car, I see silver grill too ! The only difference is in the spy pics, even the centre portion of the walrus tooth is painted in silver whereas the pic above has the centre grill in black color !

Edit 2:: Of the double barrel headlights, the inner ones close to the grill doesn't seem to match on both sides. The driver side has more curve / is closer to a circle while the passenger side is just an arc / half of a circle. The angle doesnt seem to be that tilted as well looking at the ORVMs. I see a bad finish on the edge of the bonnet right above the headlights.

OT:: With that post I upgraded my status in t-bhp ! I hope to upgrade my Swift with this car as well! Hope everything works out great for this car and for me too !

[shankar.balan]

this is a good scoop-ish pic.
all I will say is that it is a yes and a no.

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Can anyone tell me what is this..? My friend sent me this on FB

Is this the Real W201 or is it some modified SUV..?

If this is the REAL W201... Then

1) The Grille is out of place
2) The Bumpers- my tinker can fabricate a better design.
3) The LED's look like an aftermarket addition.
4) The Hood lines are terrible and old school
5) The ORVM's are tooo Puny

And. if its not the real W201, Please forgive me for my findings AND I dont want an infraction for this