Spied - Mahindra P601 light truck spotted for the first time

A new Mahindra light commercial vehicle has been caught testing near Chennai.

A report on Tamil Magazine Motor Vikatan says that the truck, codenamed Mahindra P601, could either be the new Mahindra Maxximo or an all-new vehicle that will be slotted between the Mahindra Maxximo and the Mahindra Gio.

Visually, the truck looks a lot bigger than either the Maxximo Plus or the Gio. While the Maxximo Plus has a GVW of 1,815 kg and a payload of 850 kg, the Gio has a 500 kg payload and a 1,100 kg GVW. The spied mule seems to have larger cargo bay (1 tonne payload, at least) and is a bigger vehicle physically.

The interiors are pretty basic, with a dashboard mounted gear shift and basic switches. Despite the space gained by positioning the gear stick located on the dashboard, there are two individual seats and not a bench seat. There is no aircon in the spied mule. Vehicles with higher payloads, like the Tata Super Ace and the Ashok Leyland Dost offer air conditioning in a variant and not as a standard feature.

The headlamp cluster carries separate sections for the indicators and the headlamps. The taillight cluster is a basic ensemble of brake lights, indicators and reverse lights. The vehicle has a rear-mounted exhaust and a spare tyre located on the right of the underside of the cargo bay.

A newspaper had reported this month that the Mahindra P601 would be manufactured at Mahindra's new factory in Cheyyar, Tamil Nadu.

[Source - Motor Vikatan]