After much speculation about its latest offering, Mahindra has held a naming ceremony of its new MPV and named it Marazzo. It means shark in Basque. The design of the vehicle was done by Pininfarina in Italy and the Mahindra Design Centre here in India. Mahindra says that the vehicle will have design elements inspired from a shark. The tail lamps are inspired by the tail of the shark, while the grille is designed to replicate the teeth of the shark. Engineering of the vehicle is jointly done by Mahindra North American Technical Centre and Mahindra research Valley in Chennai. The MPV will be manufactured at its Nasik plant and will be launched by the end of second quarter of FY 2019. The car will be available as both 7 and 8 seater configurations. The Marazzo also claims to have the largest footprint of all Mahindra vehicles.
Mahindra claims that the Marazzo will have a fine balance between ride and handling while offering a roomy cabin. The MPV will offer an industry first ‘surround cooling’ that uses a roof mounted blowers. Powering the Marazzo will be a new 1.5-litre turbo diesel engine that makes 121bhp and 300Nm of peak torque. The engine will have a lighter cylinder head, light weight cam cover, sound proofing materials and light weight intake manifold which should result in fewer vibrations, says Mahindra.
At the naming ceremony of the vehicle, Dr Pawan Goenka, managing director of M&M Ltd. said, “The shark inspired Marazzo symbolizes the next generation of aspirational Mahindra vehicles. A collaborative effort of Pininfarina, Mahindra Design Studio, MNATC and MRV, Marazzo is born of a vision to design a global vehicle with quality and refinement keeping in mind the aspiration of our customers.
At the event, Rajan Wadhera, president of automotive sector, M&M Ltd. said, “The intense process of development and refinement of the Marazzo is comparable to any global vehicle and incorporates a number of innovations. This has delivered better space, smoother ride with a quieter cabin, best-in-class cooling, excellent safety and a tough body construction in the Marazzo. Infact the Marazzo has the largest footprint (wheelbase x front track) of any Mahindra vehicle. I am confident that it will set a new benchmark and become a game-changer in its segment.”
The Marazzo will compete against the Toyota Innova, the reigning king in the MPV segment in India. It will be most likely positioned between the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and Toyota Innova.