Mahindra & Mahindra is giving the Scorpio an image makeover to position it as a thoroughbred sports utility vehicle (SUV) and do away with multi-utility vehicle (MUV) tag associated with it. Mahindra has given muscle to the Scorpio, which has crossed a total sales of two lakh units, to position it as a vehicle that can handle full off-road driving following the launch of its latest MUV Xylo. Customers tend to treat the Scorpio as an MUV, which the company is now trying to change by providing the vehicle the required looks, features and performance.

“There is an endeavour to position the Scorpio as a complete SUV now that we have the Xylo.” “We have been constantly upgrading the Scorpio and recently we launched the latest version with a more muscular look and also make it ideal for off-road drives,” Mahindra & Mahindra President (Automotive) Pawan Goenka said.

In the beginning of March the company had launched the latest version of the Scorpio, with new design in front grille, headlights, fog lamps, bumpers, embossed side cladding, along with other features such as digital immobiliser.

Renault has given the green light to the Sandero hatchback (code: B90) which is due for launch in the 2009-10 financial year. The original plan was to build the Sandero in Renault-Nissan’s all-new manufacturing facility near Chennai. However, with the current slowdown in the automobile industry, Renault-Nissan is going slow on its greenfield facility. Contrary to market speculations that Logan production would also be shifted to Chennai, it is obvious that both the Logan and the Sandero could be produced in M&M’s Nashik facility.

Plans to produce the estate version of the Logan, the MCV (code: R90) in Nashik have been shelved. As a result, there is sufficient capacity for both the Logan saloon and Sandero hatchback. Producing both cars in the same plant makes logistics easy as both share many components, notably the 1.5- litre dCI diesel. However, the Sandero will get its own 1.2- litre petrol motor to meet the small car norms.

Source – ACI