Mahindra Marazzo Electric Not On The Cards

Update: The Mahindra Marazzo has been launched in India at an introductory starting price of Rs 9.99 lakh (ex-showroom). It's available in 4 variants, powered by a diesel engine only. Click here to know more about the Marazzo. Planning to book the Marazzo? Find out which variant of the Marazzo offers the best value for money here. The Marazzo will be powered by a diesel engine at launch but a petrol engine is also said to be under development

Mahindra has confirmed that the Marazzo MPV will launch by the end of September 2018. A new platform underpins the Marazzo and the carmaker says that it imparts the MPV the largest footprint of any Mahindra vehicle to date. A large footprint obviously means more area to pack batteries, right? However, Mahindra has denied any plans to offer an electric version of the MPV.

Talking about the Mahindra Marazzo’s powertrain options, the managing director of Mahindra, Dr. Pawan Goenka, has reportedly said, “It is certainly designed to take in more powertrains, smaller and bigger than what we are launching it with. We have not designed it for electric and we are not sure if the MPV is of the right size for an electric powertrain.”

Although Dr. Goenka has denied the possibility of an electric version of the Marazzo, we think the new platform, which will spawn more Mahindra products in the future, must have been developed keeping electrification in mind. If not, it will be quite surprising since Mahindra is working on consolidating its platforms for the future. The carmaker plans to have a three-platform strategy and the Marazzo’s platform is going to be one of two on which the carmaker will build its future monocoque vehicles. The second platform that will underpin future monocoque Mahindra models will be the one on which the upcoming Mahindra S201 is based. The final platform will be a ladder frame that will underpin the next-gen Scorpio. Know more about the next-gen Scorpio and XUV5OO here.

At present, Mahindra is the only carmaker in India that offers electric vehicles in the passenger car market. Its portfolio includes two EVs - the e2o Plus hatchback and the eVerito sedan. The carmaker has also announced that it will offer a third EV in 2019, which could very well be an electric hatchback based on the KUV 100. It was showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo as well. The carmaker would ideally want to extend its electric portfolio and it might not develop any new platforms without keeping electrification in mind.

As for the Marazzo, Mahindra has stated that the MPV will only get a diesel engine at launch. However, it is also developing a petrol engine for it. Considering that the Marazzo is targeted at the private segment, we also expect it to get an automatic transmission along with the manual. However, it remains to be seen if both transmission options will be available from launch. What is unclear, at the moment, is what type of diesel engine will be offered with the Marazzo - a new 1.5-litre unit what will attract less taxes or a diesel engine over 2.0-litre in capacity. Although the latter will give the MPV more grunt, it will also make it more expensive.

Source