Mahindra has launched the BS6-compliant petrol version of its compact SUV, the XUV300. Priced from Rs 8.30 lakh for the base W4 and going up to Rs 11.84 lakh (ex-showroom, pan-India) for the fully loaded W8(O), the BS6-compliant models costs about Rs 20,000 more than their BS4 counterparts.

Commenting on the launch Rajan Wadhera, President, Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said, “We are delighted to launch our first BS6 vehicle. It is a milestone in our BS6 transition journey. Despite tight timelines, we, along with our suppliers, have met the challenging requirements of these tighter emission norms, much ahead of the stipulated timeline. We will progressively upgrade our entire range with cleaner emissions technology.”

The BS6-compliant 1.2-litre turbo-petrol unit continues to make identical output figures as the BS4-spec engine – 110hp and 200Nm of torque. The engine is paired with a 6-speed manual gearbox as standard.

Mahindra had earlier in the year revealed that the Bolero Power Plus was BS6 certified by International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT), but is yet to launch the model.

The Mahindra XUV300 rivals the likes of the Hyundai Venue, Ford EcoSport, Tata Nexon and the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza – the Vitara Brezza is diesel only for now; a BS6-compliant petrol model will be introduced next year with Maruti set to drop diesel engines entirely from its line-up. Expect Mahindra to launch more BS6 compliant iterations of its models in the coming months.