The Mahindra XUV300 Sportz was unveiled at the 2020 Auto Expo. It will be launched in the coming months.
Auto Expo 2020 may have seen much less participation than its previous instalments. Still, those who have set up a pavilion have showcased their latest and best at the biennial automotive event. Mahindra & Mahindra is definitely one of them which boasted of a showcase of around 10 products that included passenger vehicles, EVs and concepts.
In comparison to the other interesting products that were on display, the Mahindra XUV300 Sportz T-GDI may have failed to gather the attention it rightfully deserved. Scheduled for launch in mid-2020, the upcoming XUV300 T-GDI will be the most powerful sub-four-metre compact-SUV on the Indian market.
Even though it wears some excessive red accents and graphics in a bid to give a sporty appeal, the Mahindra XUV300 Sportz T-GDI is all about its new BS6-compliant 1.2-litre mStallion four-cylinder turbo petrol engine. The red details further spread into the interiors and we don’t think anyone with the slightest appreciation for aesthetics would prefer it over the standard interior trims.
Coming back to the power plant, the GDI turbo petrol motor makes around 128bhp and 230Nm of torque; almost 20bhp and 30Nm more than the current XUV300 petrol variant. It will debut with a 6-speed manual and an AMT unit could be introduced at a later stage. Below is the detailed walkaround video, by YouTube channel WheelBHP.
This does not mean it’s the end of the current MPFi 1.2-litre turbo petrol unit. The XUV300 Sportz will be introduced as a higher variant alongside the regular petrol range. The main difference between either engine, as the name suggests, comes in the manner in which fuel is fed into the engine. In MPFI (Multi-Point Fuel Injection) engines, fuel is injected into the intake manifold at a lower pressure and the air-fuel mixture goes inside the combustion chamber. In GDI (Gasoline Direct Injection), fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber at a higher pressure, at or around the same time of the intake stroke.
The Mahindra XUV300 has got both GDI and MPFI turbo petrol vehicles as its direct rivals. For instance, the higher Hyundai Venue 1.0-litre turbo petrol models are GDI while the Tata Nexon petrol’s 1.2-litre turbo motor is an MPFI unit.
As mentioned before, the GDI petrol avatar of the Mahindra XUV300 will make its official introduction sometime around mid-2020. Prices for the XUV300 Sportz would be significantly higher than the current top-spec W8 manual petrol variant which goes for around Rs 11.85 lakh ex-showroom.
