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As soon as the Cheetah XUV500 got backed up by 4-star rating by ANCAP, it made its foray onto Australian shores with an attractive price tag. It has been launched today placing it aggressively to compete with Holden (GM in Australia) Captiva and Chinese Great Wall X200. Australia will get the Mahindra XUV500 at $29,900 (Rs. 16.57 lakh) for W8 front whell drive and $32900 (Rs. 18.24 lakh) for W8 AWD (Australians are fortunate enough to get AWD variant). While the competition stands like this: Holden Captiva7 Automatic, turbo-diesel both 2WD and AWD $35,490 (Rs. 19.67 lakh) and $39,490 (Rs. 21.89 lakh) respectively. Also Great Wall X200 is priced at $ 26,490 (Rs. 14.96 lakh) plus taxes. These are the cars which are closest to XUV500 in Australia.
The Mahindra XUV500 will be available with a 2.2 liter mHawk engine mated to 6-speed manual transmission, same setup as India. The auto box is expected soon as it is also expected in India. Mahindra is also in talks with Hyundai to source a 6-sped automatic gearbox from them. There is also news that twin-turbo petrol version is also in the making for markets like this. The thing which we have to look into this news is how this car is taken by Australians. Keep in mind that it got 4 stars in ANCAP, but shown some serious issues like loss of structural integrity, damage to fuel line and fuel tank. Also this is the second car from Mahindra, which is not so well accepted brand in Australia.
Another major concern is that what Mahindra will do with the current demand of this product in India? As of now India is the only destination where XUV500 is being produced so it implies that the Mahindra will put more stress on their already stressed production line for the product. It is going to add few more days of waiting period for Indian customers indirectly. And what if this car is accepted above expectations in Australia too? Well we will get to this to soon. Meanwhile Italy and Chile are the next markets where the Mahindra XUV500 will be launched.
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