The S101 Compact SUV will feature newly developed petrol and diesel engines and will compete against the Ford EcoSport, Fiat Avventura, upcoming Tata Nexon and the likes.
Mahindra is surely getting its arsenal ready for the onslaught of products planned in 2015. While the company has been late to come to the sub 4-metre compact SUV segment, the Indian auto giant plans to fill in that void with a plethora of compact SUVs that will be launched across different price segments over the year. Leaving no stone unturned, the automaker has also been extensively testing its new models across the country, which our eagle eyed readers Alegendra Prasath and Rishath Suresh managed to capture while on one of its test runs in Chennai, where the Mahindra Research Valley is located.
The model spotted here is the Mahindra S101 compact SUV and is expected to be the smallest compact SUV to be offered by the company. While the exteriors of the S101 were heavily disguised, the test mule did give away a lot of details on the new model especially the interiors. Most noticeably, the S101 gets a modern interior on the lines of the new Scorpio. Done up in grey and beige colour schemes, we spotted multi-function steering wheel, automatic climate control, an MID screen and an audio system space on the top of the centre console.
Unlike older Mahindra models, the interiors on the new S101 are refreshing with neatly designed air-con vents, while the seats were covered in dual-tone fabric upholstery. We also expect door mounted power window switches on the production model. Powering the S101 compact SUV will most likely be the new set of engines that Mahindra is currently developing in collaboration with partner SsangYong. The model could sport 1.2-litre 3-cylinder petrol and diesel engines under the hood, while the dimensions will be limited to under the 4-metre mark helping reap excise duty benefits.
Like any Mahindra product, expect the S101 to be priced very competitively and is most likely to come feature loaded on the top-end variants. While details on the timeline of the launch are yet to be revealed, you could expect Mahindra putting the vehicle on sale mid-2015. The S101 compact SUV will be competing against the Ford EcoSport, Fiat Avventura, Renault Duster as well as the upcoming models including the Tata Nexon and Maruti XA Alpha in the segment.
