Mahindra S201 compact SUV to get a name on December 1; will it be called XUV300?

Mahindra & Mahindra, the utility vehicle specialist of India, had a busy festive season. The company launched Marazzo MPV followed by Alturas G4 premium SUV. It looks like the back-to-back product launch of Mahindra will not end soon as it has planned a compact SUV for early 2019.

The compact SUV in question is currently codenamed S201 and Mahindra & Mahindra will reveal the production name for the SUV on December 1. Reports claim that the new SUV will be christened as the XUV300 in order to encash the popularity of Mahindra's bigger model, the XUV500.

Having said that, Mahindra's recent two new vehicles have non-Alpha-numeric names and also the Alturas G4 broke the tradition of SUV names ending in the letter 'O.' This prompts us to think the new compact SUV may get an all-new name.

The new SUV will take the SsangYong collaboration further. While the Alturas G4 is the badge-engineered version of the SsangYong G4 Rexton, the S201 is based on a modified SsangYong Tivoli platform. However, the S201 will be significantly different from Tivoli in terms of looks and features.

The spy images indicate the S201 will be packed with projector headlamps, LED DRLs (daytime running lights), sporty diamond-cut alloy wheels, roof rails, and a roof-mounted spoiler. Reports claim it will be feature packed as the SUV will also go up against Hyundai Creta in addition to the rival-in-chief, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza.

The premium features expected with the S201 are a sunroof, a large touchscreen, cruise control and even features like dual-zone climate control system. In addition, two airbags and four-wheel disc brakes are expected as standard across the variants.

Mahindra S201 is expected to be offered in both petrol and diesel mills. The petrol engine will be a new 1.2 litre G80 turbo unit while the 1.5-litre diesel is expected to belt out 123bhp. The engines will come mated to a 5-speed manual transmission while an AMT option is also possible.