Upcoming Mahindra MPV U321 Is A Global Product: Rick Haas, CEO, MANA

We've been keeping you updated about Mahindra's first launch in the Indian market this year. Yes, we are talking about the new MPV which is codenamed U321.The company has been looking to enter the MPV segment for quite some time now but clearly the demand in this segment has gone down. Honda tried with the Mobilio, Tata with the Aria but Maruti Suzuki's Ertiga remains the best seller in this segment. Mahindra now is looking tackle that one car with segment first features and a good design too.

The exterior design gets Mahindra's signature chrome toothed grille with horizontal headlamps equipped with projector lights and LED daytime running lights. Other features could include an electric sunroof, sporty alloy wheels, plastic underbody cladding and more.

The 7/8-seater, however, has undergone a fair amount of testing already and in fact is a global product. Talking at the launch of the Roxor SUV, Rick Haas, President and CEO, Mahindra North America said "For people who have been tracking us, we started off as Mahindra North American Technical Centre, which was earlier conceived to be an engineering centre of excellence here in the U.S. We accelerate Mahindra's plans for our global expansion. We put this team in place to help develop global products. But we've covered a lot of ground since then. So the first product we started working on was an MPV, a Euro-style mini-van and will be launching soon in India. There's a second all-new platform which is also for a global product and we work at this in conjunction with our colleagues in India."

The MPV will be launched by April this year and from the spy shots that have already seen, it will quite feature rich. The production version is likely to get audio and telephony controls, especially the range-topping models. The U321 also gets a large twin pot instrument cluster with a horizontal digital display at the centre displaying a host of information. The MPV also features large air-con vents, fabric upholstery, dual tone beige and black interior panels and more.

It's certain that Mahindra is looking to export the MPV, but we wait to find out which markets it's heading to.