Mahindra U301 reveals its final shape, new details - Spied

Will be launched in 2015.

Mahindra's new compact SUV, codenamed U301, continues running about with camouflage wrapping around the country. This time, a reader of Motoroids has spotted the vehicle in Chennai. Mahindra's R&D facility MRV (Mahindra Research Valley), in charge of product development, is located just outside Chennai. These up close images of the U301 provide new insight on the proportions and structures of the car.

Despite being spied several times, sparse new details are available about the upcoming SUV. Curiously, however, the test mule in question had alternated wheels, with the front getting steel wheels and the rear sporting alloy wheels. The company had already confirmed that it will launch both the U301 and the S101, its challenger in the compact SUV segment, within this fiscal year. It is also known that the U301 will be launched before the S101.

The incoming U301 is touted as the spiritual successor to the highly successful Mahindra Bolero, one that has consistently been setting records, the latest that of being India's best-selling SUV for the 9th consecutive year, where 2015 saw it selling more than 100,000 units for the fourth consecutive year. The U301, then, has a big name to live up to.

The sub-4m SUV is set to be powered by a newly-developed 1.5-liter diesel engine and is also set to come with both an AMT and a manual transmission. Spyshots have shown the top-end (ZLX) variant lacking automatic climate control and 4WD switchgear, hinting that the U301 will primarily take aim at the utility market.

[Source - Motoroids.com]