The Mahindra Rexton has been revealed at the 2018 Auto Expo, and it's a lot like the Ssangyong Rexton that you've been reading about, except that it sports a Mahindra badge and features some cosmetic tweaks. In fact, according to M&M MD Pawan Goenka, the vehicle may not carry the Rexton name when it goes on sale in India this year. We reported back in January that Mahindra could ditch "SsangYong" branding altogether for its new Rexton SUV.
The company has tweaked the grille to bring it in line with Mahindra's design ethos and has worked on the suspension, ride height and handling package in an effort to make it better suited for Indian road conditions.
Mahindra has chosen to rebrand the car as, despite having been around for a few years, SsangYong has little recall value, and building a brand would require a significant investment in terms of time and expenditure. Mahindra needed a vehicle that was truly upmarket, and the Rexton is exactly that, sitting at the top of M&M's passenger vehicle line-up, right above the XUV500.
With a ladder-frame chassis, the Rexton is as SUV as they come, and is also properly big, measuring in at 4,850mm in length, 1,960mm in width, and 1,825mm in height.
Power for the Rexton for India is expected to come from a 2.2-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine making 187hp and 420Nm of torque, which is mated to a seven-speed torque-converter automatic gearbox. All-wheel drive will be offered in addition to the standard 2WD variants.
The Rexton is loaded with equipment and gets projector headlamps, a 9.2-inch HD touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a 360-degree camera, a 7.0-inch LCD instrument cluster, cooled seats, Nappa leather upholstery and a smart tailgate, to name a few goodies. While all of these would be nice to have, Mahindra will need to pick and choose wisely to keep the car's final price competitive. And to keep things competitive, Mahindra will locally assemble the Rexton to avoid the increased taxation CKDs and CBUs are subject to.
At an estimated starting price of Rs 24 lakh (ex-showroom), expect the Rexton to undercut its rival-in-chief, the Toyota Fortuner, by as much as Rs 4 lakh when it goes on sale around Diwali later this year.
Also see:
Auto Expo 2018 car and SUV image gallery
Auto Expo 2018 bikes and scooters image gallery
Mahindra Stinger convertible SUV concept revealed at Auto Expo 2018