SUV from Mahindra

India’s ‘Kool Utility Vehicle’ is A Tiny SUV From Mahindra

Mahindra has hit the local market with a tiny new crossover called the KUV100. It takes the Indian automaker into a new segment, and debuts a new engine line as well.

SUV from Mahindra

Though more dynamically styled than its predecessors and stablemates, one look at the name – and those tiny wheels – is all you should need to know that it won’t be coming to North America any time soon.

Standing for Kool Utility Vehicle, the KUV100 (the numbers pronounced 1-double-Oh, incidentally) is Mahindra’s rival to the Renault Kwid. That’s a size down from the Ford EcoSportChevy Trax, and Jeep Renegade – which is, to say, that it’s tiny. Overall dimensions weren’t released, but the engine lineup should tell you something about how small a vehicle we’re dealing with.

The new KUV100 packs a new engine family for Mahindra, dubbed mFalcon available in two versions. Both displace just 1.2-liters, with the gasoline version producing 82 horsepower and the diesel just 77.

For those who don’t recognize the name, Mahindra is one of the larger automakers in India, alongside the likes of Tata and Maruti Suzuki. And like Tata, it’s been expanding. It acquired Korean automaker SsangYong just a few years ago, and is now subsuming Pininfarina as well. The company has been producing a largely aging array of SUVs, but is in the process of reinvigorating its lineup with newer machinery like the XUV500 introduced just a few years ago and the new KUV100 pictured here.

 

Anthony Bunch Author

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