[benbsb29]

Driving home from work this evening I spotted the Mahindra Scorpio-N atop a trailer truck being transported presumably to a local dealer. While it was announced the Scorpio-N would be released in Australia by Mahindra, this is possibly our earliest sighting on Australian roads.





It will be interesting to see how it fares and how Mahindra allocates stock, considering the long waiting periods for the car in India.

P.S.: Apologies for the quality of the pics. These are screengrabs from a dashcam, and cropped.

[Kosfactor]

An offshoot of the social media blitzkrieg for political purposes which has engulfed Indians as well as Indian origin people abroad, made in India is becoming attractive for those who are not in India as well.

Mahindra no doubt will benefit from this wave. I received queries from those who are of Indian origin settled in Australia as well, that is a significant development from a brand perception angle.

I noticed that sometime last year when ScorpioN first arrived in a nearby fuel station (BLR), the owner of the fuel station came running to see the vehicle. He was very proud about the fact that an Indian company has made it, no need to pay big money for foreign brands apparently.

[shankar.balan]

These Scorpios are indeed a very good alternative to some of those other big 4x4 SUVs on offer in ANZ. Yes they may play the ‘price’ card. But they are a great product in their own right.

[akshay4587]

I recently Joined a Mahindra Pik up (Scorpio Getaway) club in Australia by the name Curry Cruiser Club
The Pik up has a great fan following in regional Australia, especially QLD and WA, with many locals rating the pik up at par with Japanese Utes

Scorpio N is slated to be launched on 20th April and lots of people are looking forward to it. If priced around 45K mark, it could be a game changer for Mahindra in Australia.

[ron178]

Zero star safety rating inevitable for Scorpio N in Australia; ANCAP in talks with distributor for testing.

A significant portion of the latest ANCAP test criteria is allocated to crash-avoidance technology the Mahindra Scorpio-N lacks.

In the absence of autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist or speed limit warning system, the Mahindra twins would likely perform poorly in the "Safety Assist" ANCAP category – and could receive an overall score of zero stars.

-Drive

The local division of Mahindra has confirmed it plans to have its Scorpio body-on-frame SUV assessed by Australian crash testing authority ANCAP, but it won’t happen until extra safety features are added as part of an update.

Mahindra Group vice president and head of international operation Joydeep Moitra told Australian media “it’s in our product lifecycle plan” to have the Scorpio tested by ANCAP.

Other Mahindra executives hinted that Scorpio ANCAP testing will be delayed until the safety features are fitted as part of the mid-life update.

It’s worth noting the Scorpio scored a five-star safety rating according to the more lenient Global New Car Assessment (GNCAP) protocols.

-CarExpert

ANCAP is aware of Mahindra’s recent announcement to release the Scorpio-N into the Australian market.

As with all new model entrants, it is ANCAP’s desire to have a locally-applicable safety rating available for Australian consumers.

We are liaising with the local distributor to determine the safety specification and availability of its forthcoming models, and the potential for testing and rating.

-Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP)

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

I recently Joined a Mahindra Pik up (Scorpio Getaway) club in Australia by the name Curry Cruiser Club
The Pik up has a great fan following in regional Australia, especially QLD and WA, with many locals rating the pik up at par with Japanese Utes

Scorpio N is slated to be launched on 20th April and lots of people are looking forward to it. If priced around 45K mark, it could be a game changer for Mahindra in Australia.

There are plenty of YouTube videos from Australia and South Africa referencing the value that the Scorpio Pik up / getaway represents. And the Scorpio N too.
But many of the videos anbout Scorpio N also reference the safety aspects which don’t quite cut it for those markets.

https://youtu.be/1fbTdOjS4TE

https://youtu.be/41GBglBJBWA

https://youtu.be/FRt9-9mVMD8

https://youtu.be/CEuEONco-Cw

https://youtu.be/xHwfH9FGNFc

https://youtu.be/jgQ7keOS5LA

[benbsb29]

Mahindra worked their way through a loophole to manage to bring in the ScorpioN to Australia with active safety features. This has been called out by every single review. I feel they have jumped the gun in trying to launch it without providing for these, considering how all new cars in Australia now come with them, which also results in changing customer preferences.

However, as reported first by Drive, the Scorpio – sold in India as the Scorpio-N – will arrive without life-saving technology standard on most modern cars, such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring, rear-cross traffic alert and lane-keeping assistance.

Autonomous emergency braking is now mandatory for all newly-introduced vehicles approved for sale in Australia from 1 March 2023.

But Mahindra exploited a loophole that only requires vehicles to be granted paperwork approval with Australian motor vehicle regulations before March 2023 – even if the first deliveries to customers begin after that date.

Link to article

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Mahindra worked their way through a loophole to manage to bring in the ScorpioN to Australia with active safety features.

Don’t you mean ‘without’ rather than ‘with’?

[GrammarNazi]

IMO it's not like they maliciously exploited "a loophole". Mahindra launched the product before the deadline (viz a date arbitrarily decided by the Govt).

What's actually newsworthy is the obvious question that why isn't this rule simply applicable on ALL cars *sold* from the cut-off date ? Like say the BS6.2 norms in India.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Don’t you mean ‘without’ rather than ‘with’?

Yup. Typo.
Thank you. 👍

[lionheart_mm]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

IMO it's not like they maliciously exploited "a loophole". Mahindra launched the product before the deadline (viz a date arbitrarily decided by the Govt).

What's actually newsworthy is the obvious question that why isn't this rule simply applicable on ALL cars *sold* from the cut-off date ? Like say the BS6.2 norms in India.

I wonder why they launched ScorpioN instead of XUV 700.

[GrammarNazi]

Originally Posted by lionheart_mm

I wonder why they launched ScorpioN instead of XUV 700.

XUV7OO is a product that is freshly developed ground-up & IMO its complexity requires more rigorous processes (& semiconductor chips). Also, XUV is a soft-roader, and not a full blown SUV like the ScorpioN.

XUV could anyway be launched there easily in the future (ofc with AEBS), also the costs must allow them to launch ScorpioN at an aggressive price & gain foothold in the Australian market.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Driving home from work this evening I spotted the Mahindra Scorpio-N atop a trailer truck being transported presumably to a local dealer. While it was announced the Scorpio-N would be released in Australia by Mahindra, this is possibly our earliest sighting on Australian roads.

It will be interesting to see how it fares and how Mahindra allocates stock, considering the long waiting periods for the car in India.

From the reviews I understand that the offroad tests happened at Norwell's test track near Brisbane. May be these cars were transported for the media event.

[aah78]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Mahindra worked their way through a loophole to manage to bring in the ScorpioN to Australia with active safety features.

Mahindra has been trying to get the Scorpio into the US for the longest time but hasn't been able to do so yet.

Also, the Thar, is imported under the name Roxor, to be sold as an off-road only vehicle - popular because of what it is but unfortunately you can't register it do drive on-road.

[lionheart_mm]

I wonder why Mahindra and TATA are not really bothered about the MEA market. Chinese car makers like Changan and MG are slowly gaining foothold here and could be pretty big a few years. If Mahindra launches Scorpio N, Thar and XUV700 at least Indian expats would buy it.