M&M drives in Scorpio-N, hopes to stay in top gear with 'disruptor SUV'

Company expects car will impress buyers considering premium offerings like Toyota Fortuner, Jeep Meridian and MG Gloster

Mahindra and Mahindra on Tuesday took the wraps off the Scorpio-N, a premium version of the SUV that has sold 800,000 units in two decades and that gave the company a new direction when it was launched in 2002.

Scorpio-N’s petrol version costs between Rs 11.99 lakh and Rs 18.99 lakh and the diesel one between Rs 12.49 lakh and 19.49 lakh. The introductory price is for the first 25,000 customers. Bookings open online and at Mahindra dealerships on July 30 at 11.00 am on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis. Delivery dates will depend on variants.

Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director, auto and farm equipment sectors at Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), said the Scorpio-N would appeal to buyers in the mid-sized SUV and higher segments.

"It will be a segment disruptor that will help us gain market share. We now have a very strong portfolio of SUVs," said Jejurikar at Scorpio-N’s launch in Chakan near Pune.

Scorpio-N will compete with the Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Volkswagen Taigun, and other SUV brands. It is also expected to wean buyers considering premium SUVs like Toyota Fortuner, Jeep Meridian and MG Gloster.

The Scorpio-N is the third and completely new model launched as part of a brand exercise Mumbai-based Mahindra embarked upon with the launch of the Thar on August 15, 2020. That was followed by the XUV7OO on October 30, 2021. With average monthly volume runs of 2,700 and 4000 units respectively, the Thar and XUV7OO have been a success: if not for a worldwide chip shortage, unit sales would have been higher.

Mahindra will retain the previous version of Scorpio, likely giving it cosmetic upgrades like tweaked bumpers, a new grille and new colours.

The Scorpio-N further reinforces the company’s strategy of sticking to making rugged, all-terrain SUVs in a market where every other vehicle has a similar tag.

The Thar marked a fresh beginning for the 75-year-old firm that enjoyed an indomitable position in the SUV segment until 2012 and then started losing ground to rivals from Japan, Korea, and Europe. The strategy has paid off. The Thar and XUV7OO have helped the company come back in the reckoning in terms of volume and profitability. Mahindra’s SUV sales rose 43 per cent year-on-year to 225,678 units in FY22. 

M&M’s strong hold in the SUV market began to wane with the entry of “car-like SUVs” or soft roaders. In response to competition, it also launched SUVs with a car-like stance: these included the Quanto, the NuvoSport, the KUV100, the Verito Vibe, the TUV300, and the XUV300. But it was late and none lived up to the volume expectations or excited SUV buyers. In the process of protecting its turf and chasing volumes, M&M ceded ground to competition in a big way. The firm’s volumes fell to 180,000 units in FY20 from the peak of 280,000 in FY12. Its share in the segment, where it once ruled, shrank to 19 per cent from 55 per cent during this period.