 "Mahindra launches new Scorpio to challenge Duster")
The new Scorpio which will be available in five variants and will go on sale immediately, will carry a starting price of Rs 7.98 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai), undercutting arch rival Duster by nearly Rs 70,000. The top end version of the Scorpio will be sold at Rs 11.46 lakh, little higher than the base variant of M&M's premium car XUV 500.
With the new model M&M has effectively raised the price of the Scorpio whose entry price earlier stood at Rs 7.21 lakh for the EX variant, a strip down version.
M&M executives said that the new Scorpio is built on a improvised platform but retains the ladder frame design, an essential characteristic for real off-road SUVs. The company said it spent Rs 250 crore on development of the new Scorpio.
Pawan Goenka, executive director, M&M said, "This is for the first time in its 12 year history that the platform has been changed. It was important for us that we wanted to retain the off-road quality of the Scorpio while making it better. Overall this is the fourth refresh of the Scorpio".
The new Scorpio gets changed exterior styling with LED eyebrows in the headlamp, new chrome-accented front grille, LEd tail lamps, touch screen infotainment system with GPS navigation, engine immobilizer, ABS and reverse assist to name a few.
Though Bolero remains the largest selling utility vehicle for M&M the Scorpio has been clocking around 50,000 units sales every year for the last three years.