Mahindra’s good journey with Multi-Purpose Vehicles seems to have no end, especially with vehicles like Xylo. But the passivity of the vehicle in terms of style and substance has made the Xylo obsolete. This has pushed Mahindra to work on a new Multi-Purpose Vehicle, the U321. Unlike its ancestors, the U321 will get monocoque chassis design which was observed in the test mule.
A recent sneak peek of the vehicle gives us some information about the Mahindra U321. Apart from the monocoque chassis design, it seems to be a full seven-seater van which would be bad news for competitors like the Toyota Innova Crysta and the Tata Hexa as the U321 is expected to be cheaper. Is the U321 better than the XUV 500? This remains to be seen.
Under the hood, the U321 equips either a 1.99 liter or 2.2-liter M-Hawk engines that produce more than 140 bhp of power and a torque of over 300 Nm. Both of the engines will be connected to a six-speed manual gearbox and will be equipped with the intelli-hybrid start-stop system.
Coming to the interiors, the U321 gets a dual-tone dashboard replete with bits of piano black trim. The A/C vents are trapezoidal and are surrounded by chrome trim. An infotainment system which seems to be borrowed from the XUV 500. A new steering design, four-wheel disc brakes, front fog lamps with LED daytime running lamps and projector head and large tail lamps with LED inserts and a spacious interior are some of the other features of U321. The U321 is expected to come with the five spoke 16-inch alloy wheels along with Apollo Apterra tyres.
The Mahindra U321 is expected to launch in April 2018 and the price of the vehicle will be announced at the launch. The U321 will hopefully continue the MPV success currently being enjoyed by Mahindra.