Mahindra S101 Compact SUV Spotted Testing Again

A heavily camouflaged test mule of the Mahindra S101 Compact SUV has been spotted testing in Chennai, Tamil Nadu again by an automobile website, indicating that the production of the SUV is moving fast.

Mahindra S101, sub four-meter compact SUV has already made innumerable appearances on the web through spy images. This time, the spy shots of Mahindra S101 are by the folks at Indian Autos Blog, who caught the vehicle in Chennai where Mahindra has one of their R&D facilities. Like we have seen in the previous spy images of the vehicle, the taillights are also made of basic bulbs.

Mahindra S101, a rival to Ford EcoSport will be built on a new monocoque platform and is likely to carry the newly developed Mahindra 1.2-liter three-cylinder petrol engine. The diesel version of the vehicle is expected to pack 1.5-liter three-cylinder mCR100 unit which does duty in the Quanto.

Talking about the speculated features of the EcoSport's rival, S101 is likely to accommodate features like auto climate control, steering mounted buttons for infotainment system along with safety features like ABS, EBD, 4 airbags and ESP.

The SUV is likely to reach Indian market in 2015 and would be a sub-4 meter vehicle if reports ring true, the Mahindra's new offering in the SUV segment will be christened XUV300 in the domestic market.

The company is also rumoured to launch an automatic gearbox variant of its iconic sports utility vehicle XUV500 and Scorpio facelift in India. Recently, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) launched new model of its flagship SUV – XUV500 in India with a price tag of ₹13.68 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai).

The new XUV 500 dubbed 'XUV500 Sportz' is built on the company's W8 model and draws its power from the same 2.2 litre mHawk diesel engine coupled to six-speed manual transmission, which can churn out 140 bhp of power and 330 Nm torque. XUV 500 limited edition offers epical features like stylish sportz body decals, fog lamps and door handles with red accents, rear-view camera, alloy wheels with red inserts, roof-rails in red, sportz badging and leather upholstery.