The Quanto was launched with much enthusiasm by Mahindra, being powered by a new 1.5-litre diesel engine but sales haven’t been stable and the compact SUV sells in poor numbers.
Mahindra’s sales have been falling steadily in the Indian market as its advantage in the Utility Vehicle space has started to diminish. With more manufacturers entering the space, sales of Mahindra’s SUVs have declined although the Scorpio and XUV500 continue to soldier on strong. But Mahindra won’t just let sals fall and plans to boost market share by launching not one but three new compact SUVs. The first to arrive is the TUV300 on 10th September, with bookings set to commence tomorrow. An even smaller SUV in the form of S101 will go on sale later this fiscal while an updated Quanto is also on the cards.
The Quanto is an SUV version of the Xylo and it uses the same platform but is powered by an all new 1.5-litre, 3-cylinder diesel motor that outputs 100 PS of power and 240 Nm of torque. Being under 4-metres in length, the Quanto gets excise duty benefits and is priced reasonably well too but lacks the car like feel as it is underpinned by a body on frame platform. The heavier platform adds to the weight and the Quanto’s dynamics are nothing to write about, that and the lacklustre design has made people shy away from buying this compact SUV.
Sales of the Quanto have been so poor that last month, just 114 units were sold while in the same month Mahindra managed to sell 6093 units, 3666 units and 3326 units of the Bolero, Scorpio and XUV500 respectively. Now Mahindra will be giving the Quanto a comprehensive update, including an AMT gearbox but will most likely drop the Quanto name altogether after taking feedback from around 30 of its dealers. It remains to be seen if the second coming of the Quanto is successful since options in the compact SUV space are multiple now.
