The Mahindra Marazzo will be initially offered with a diesel engine only, which is likely to be a 1.5-litre unit, while the petrol motor will be introduced later based on the market demand.
Mahindra's upcoming MPV codenamed U321 was christened as the Marazzo earlier today and the all-new model will be entering the Indian market as early as September this year. The Mahindra Marazzo will be taking on the Toyota Innova Crysta, Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and the likes in the segment, and will be initially available only with a diesel engine at the time of launch. The development was confirmed by Rajan Wadhera, President Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra to CarAndBike at the christening ceremony. The Marazzo will be the automaker's third offering to be based on a monocoque platform and is expected to be high on features.
The Marazzo is expected to feature the all-new 1.5-litre diesel and petrol engines that are being developed by Mahindra and SsangYong. The automaker announced that the new all-new diesel engine will be low on weight and NVH levels, while being "easy on the pocket." While power figures have not been revealed for now, the diesel engine is likely to be offered with a 6-speed manual and possibly an automatic transmission too at the time of launch.
While diesel continues to dominate the MPV segment in India, there is a rising demand for petrol powered MPVs as well, and Mahindra plans to address this segment in the future. With the market's shift towards petrol powered models in recent months, Mahindra has had to rework on its strategy for the Marazzo, and hence, a petrol engine is also in the pipeline at present. With the development underway, the engine will be introduced sometime in the future, depending on the market demand for petrol MPVs.
While diesel still leads the charge when it comes to volumes, both the Toyota Innova Crysta and the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga get petrol derivatives. In fact, the new generation Ertiga that will go on sale later this year will be getting an all-new 1.5-litre K-Series petrol engine.
A pre-dominantly diesel UV maker, the recent years have seen Mahindra & Mahindra introduce petrol engines across its existing offerings. The Mahindra XUV500 received the option of a petrol engine last year and is offered with a 6-speed automatic transmission. The Mahindra KUV100 also comes with both petrol and diesel motor options.