Refined and premium SUV, which doubles up as a tough workhorse, gives brand Scorpio a new charge in the competitive Indian marketplace.
28 Jun 2023 | 19775 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
The Mahindra Scorpio N, which was launched on June 27, 2022, has turned a year old. To celebrate the first anniversary of the model, top company executives were at the Mahindra & Mahindra plant in Chakan, Pune to flag off the 900,000th Scorpio model yesterday.
The Scorpio N, which ...
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The Mahindra Scorpio N, which was launched on June 27, 2022, has turned a year old. To celebrate the first anniversary of the model, top company executives were at the Mahindra & Mahindra plant in Chakan, Pune to flag off the 900,000th Scorpio model yesterday.
The Scorpio N, which has 25 variants across petrol and diesel engine options, has a starting price of Rs 12.75 lakh for the Scorpio N 2.0 Petrol Z2 MT and going upwards to Rs 24.05 lakh for the 2.2 diesel Z8L AT (4WD) variant. The SUV has five trims – Z2, Z4, Z6, Z8 and Z8L
The Scorpio N is a significant step up over its predecessor, both in terms of price and positioning with the predecessor renamed as the Scorpio Classic and continuing to be sold alongside the new model. According to Autocar India, “The Scorpio N’s move upmarket has brought with it the expected suite of features and creature comforts, and the cabin feels like it could give SUVs from a segment above a run for their money. The suspension, handling and overall dynamic package feel far more sophisticated now, making the SUV a better all-rounder.
M&M rolled out the Scorpio N with a host of features like 12 Sony speakers, Alexa connectivity, widest sunroof in the segment, six airbags, intelligent terrain mode and driver drowsiness detection among others.
L-R: Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director (Auto & Farm Sectors), M&M; Veejay Nakra, President, Automotive Division, M&M; R Velusamy, Senior VP & Head, Automotive Product Development, MRV, M&M and Pratap Bose, Executive Vice-President & Chief Design Officer, M&M at the Scorpio N launch on June 27, 2022 at the Chakan plant.
That M&M had a winner on its wheels was apparent three days after launch when bookings opened online on July 1, 2022. The Scorpio N saw 100,000 bookings within 30 minutes of online bookings commencing – that’s 3,333 bookings a minute! And the first 25,000 bookings came within the first minute. At the time, M&M said the bookings translated into an ex-showroom value of around Rs 18,000 crore or US$ 2.3 billion.
Deliveries began on September 26 last year and the company ramped up production to meet its plan of delivering the first 25,000 units of the Scorpio N by the end of November, with a focus on delivering the popular top-end Z8 L variant first.
As of November 1, 2022, M&M had a total order backlog of 260,000 units, of which the Scorpio N and Scorpio Classic accounted for 50 percent (130,000 units). Eight months down the line, as of June 1, 2023, the two Scorpio siblings had an order backlog of 117,000 units – 40% of the company’s 292,000 SUVs on order, which includes the XUV700, Thar, Bolero, XUV300 and the all-electric XUV400.
Scorpio N helps accelerate M&M sales
In December 2022, the Scorpio N achieved a five-star Global NCAP crash test rating, scoring 29.25 points out of a total of 34 in adult occupant protection tests and became the first Mahindra model to be tested under GNCAP’s new and enhanced testing protocol. With car and SUV buyers in India increasingly preferring safer models, the Scorpio N has clearly benefited.
In FY2023, combined sales of the Scorpio N and Scorpio were 76,935 units, which constitutes handsome 99% year-on-year growth (FY2022: 38,696 units). While the sales split for the Scorpio siblings is not available, suffice it to say that the Scorpio N has proved to be the sales accelerator.
The Scorpio siblings helped M&M achieve its best-ever sales in a fiscal in FY2023 – 359,253 units, up 59% YoY and contributed to 21.41% of the company’s total UV sales. In the first two months of FY2024, the Scorpio N and Classic have sold 18,835 units.
Launched in 2002, the Scorpio brand of SUVs has sold a total of 900,000 units to date and has proven to be a growth accelerator for Mahindra & Mahindra.
Lead photo: Rajesh Jejurikar/Twitter