Mahindra XUV500 and Mahindra Scorpio 1.9-liter Variants to Launch Soon

The ban on diesel engines has taken a toll on the predominantly diesel vehicle-manufacturing automaker of India. Mahindra & Mahindra has announced that it will be downsizing the 2.2-liter unit incorporated by the Mahindra XUV500 and Mahindra Scorpio SUVs. The utility vehicles fell into the 2000cc displacement and above diesel engine bracket of utility vehicles, which were recently banned by the Delhi government, in light of the pollution situation plaguing the nation's capital. According to a report by Economic times, the Indian automaker will be launching a 1.9-liter unit following the Supreme Court ban order, which will replace the aforementioned mill in the weeks to come.

The unit in question will be a 2.2-liter mHawk engine, which will be downsized to a 1.9-liter version so as to circumvent the ban.  The new unit will produce a relatively reduced power output as compared to its bigger cousin, but this move is necessitated to resuscitate Mahindra’s sales in the National Capital Region. There are also rumors surrounding the possibility of an improved fuel economy, as a result of the downsizing. This however seems rather unlikely, as the reduced power output would probably result in more strain on the smaller engine because of the degraded power-to-weight ratio.

An executive on behalf of Mahndra & Mahindra confirmed in an official statement that the downsizing of the engines was carried-out in-house, but engine mapping was outsourced. It is also worth considering that generally, it takes a couple of years to ideally downsize an engine.

Commenting on the same, Mr. IV Rao, former head of Research & Development, Maruti Suzuki, told ET, “Generally engine downsizing takes about two years for redesign and development of parts and engine calibration. Complexity depends on what is being changed to down size the engine.” The 1.9-liter Mahindra Scorpio will be launched in a couple of weeks and has been approved by ARAI. The launch of 1.9-liter Mahindra XUV500 is expected to follow soon after.

Recommended Read: Mahindra Scorpio variants - Know the best one for you!

Source: EconomicTimes

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