Mahindra & Mahindra has silently revised the prices of its flagship XUV500 SUV. In this year's Union budget, the government imposed higher duties on vehicle having a ground clearance of over 170mm. So, the homegrown automaker had announced to cut down the ground clearance of XUV500. Now, all the three variants of the SUV prices are reduced up to Rs. 30,000.
According to the 2013 Union Budget, the vehicles with a ground clearance of over 170mm or an engine above 1.5-litre capacity will come under the tax slab of 30 per cent, which was earlier taxed at 27 per cent. This brought Mahindra's XUV500 under the higher excise duty slab, and it became difficult for the carmaker to price it competitive according to the market. Now, the ground clearance of the XUV500 has been reduced by 40mm, making it around 160mm, and the company has installed a skid plate to protect the underbody of the car.
It is also expected that Mahindra is planning to launch a price cut version of XUV500 in the Indian car market to improve its sales. The company is also working on a compact SUV (codenamed S101), which will compete against the likes of Ford EcoSport and upcoming Maruti XA Alpha. The base variant of Mahindra XUV 500 is now priced at Rs. 11.85 Lakh, while the other two variants are tagged at Rs. 13.40 lakh and Rs. 14.44 lakh, respectively.
Source : CarDekho - Mahindra XUV500 - Mahindra announces new prices of XUV500 SUV