The four-metre mark has changed things significantly in the Indian auto industry. The government allows excise benefits for all passenger cars less than this length and though this rule was intended to promote hatchbacks, carmakers across the board have started making sub-four-metre derivatives out of every possible body style. A common approach for manufacturers is to pick a hatchback from their stable and cement a relatively small boot on the rear, keeping the length just shy of the magic four-metre mark. It’s a formula that has worked brilliantly for the Indigo (which pioneered the segment), the Dzire and, more recently, Honda’s Amaze. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) hopes it will work for the Verito Vibe as well.
M&M has followed the reverse route by creating a hatchback-like two-box derivative of its Verito saloon and it’s quite different from anything else out there. It does look quirky and the opposite ends of the car are completely out of sync with each other.
Visually, the rear looks like a traditional hatchback, until you open the boot lid. Instead of the whole tailgate swinging open, only the metallic section underneath the glass area flips up to reveal a loading aperture, akin to a saloon. This put us in a quandary as to which body style the Vibe belongs to – is it a hatch or a saloon, or both? So we thought it best to see how it fares against one from either category. And what better cars to benchmark it against than the hottest-selling cars in their respective segments, the Maruti Swift and its booted brother, the Dzire? Continued..
