Mahindra & Mahindra announced inaugurating its new state-of-the-art Mahindra SUV Proving Track (MSPT) in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. Built over 454 acres of land by L&T and designed by IDIADA, (Institut d'Investigacio Aplicada de l'Automobil - Institute for Applied Automotive Research), the new facility will be used by Mahindra Engineers to test the SUV products in a variety of terrains and simulations. The carmaker claims that this proving track is arguably one of the biggest and comprehensive automotive proving grounds owned by an automobile OEM in India.
Commenting on the inauguration of the MSPT facility, Veluswamy R., Chief of Global Product Development Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra said, "The brand-new Proving Track compliments and completes MRV where our products are conceived. It is a dream come true for everyone involved in the product development process within Mahindra. It's a driver's paradise designed to shape powerful and desirable machines."
Velusamy R, Chief of Global Product Development and Anish Shah, MD & CEO, M&M inaugrating the new MSPT facility
MSPT has been developed with an investment of Rs 510 crore and is built over 454 acres of land at Cheyyar SIPCOT Industrial Area. It has been designed by IDIADA, a Spanish institution with half a century of experience in building proving grounds. It took Mahindra three years to complete this track. MSPT has 20 purpose-built tracks, which include a Zero per cent slope High-Speed test track with 43.7-degree parabolic banking, and a speed limit of 200 kmph, a circular dynamic platform that spans 250 meters in diameter, a 4X4 Adventure track that has over 25 obstacles for testing 4X4 and AWD vehicles and a Braking pad with 6 different surfaces, and dry and wet tracks are built to test braking, ABS, ESP and TCS, among several others. All these tracks are fully operational right now.
A 4x4 specific off-road track has been built at the MSPT to help enthusiasts and experts gain experience of adventurous terrains
Mahindra says that MSPT will house a strategic 4X4 Centre of Excellence where the Mahindra team will innovate on creating breakthrough solutions. The track is just 55 km away from the Mahindra Research Valley, and all its engineers will now get to extensively test the product and also ready them for homologation in this custom-made facility. There's also a 4x4 customer experience zone with multiple off-road setups like up and down hills (slopes 7, 11, 18, and 35 degrees), drive-thru forest/woods, riverbeds (0.9 m and 1.2 m deep), mud, slush, sand, rock beds, sea saw, wooden bridge over river pass, hard and soft articulation, wood logs, railway sleepers, a dead drop etc. The company says the 4x4 experience centre will be open for customers from the second half of 2022.
