M&M to resume bookings for XUV500 in January
03 Dec 2011
Mahindra & Mahindra, India's top utility vehicle maker, said on Friday it would reopen bookings of its recently launched sports utility vehicle XUV500 in January.
The car seems to have been well-designed to meet the needs of the affluent Indian buyer. The company had stopped taking new orders on 11 October after it received over 8,000 bookings, amounting to four months' worth of production, within just 10 days of the launch on 29 September. Mahindra expects to complete deliveries of these bookings by January.
In a statement the company said it is in the process of ramping up the production of the SUV.
The production for the XUV500 is on schedule and the company is also in the process of ramping up production at its plant in Chakan near Pune, which will enable it to reopen bookings next month, the statement added.
The vehicle, which was designed and developed by M&M's research team, is so far priced between about Rs11 lakh and Rs12 lakh.
Powered by a 2.2-litre diesel engine, the XUV500 has a six-speed transmission and is also available in a four-wheel drive variant.
The vehicle has also been launched in South Africa.