Mahindra Verito Vibe Hatchback Teased

On June 5th 2013, Indian car and utility vehicle maker Mahindra &Mahindra will launch its first monocoque hatchback car in the form of the Verito Vibe. With barely 2 days to go before the launch, Mahindra has begun teasing the car. A teaser image of the Verito Vibe, through which the silhouette of the car is visible has been released by Mahindra through the Verito's Facebook page. The teaser also reveals the tagline, "Everybody loves a sport", that Mahindra will be using to market its first hatchback. A shortened version of the full sized Verito sedan(Rebadged and Restyled Mahindra-Renault Logan), the Verito Vibe measures under 4 meters in length. Click here and here to check out undisguised images of the Verito Vibe. 

The Verito Vibe is expected to a diesel-only hatchback given the fact that Mahindra doesn't have a single petrol engine that displaces 1.2 liters or lesser. For cars that measure under 4 meters in length, the Indian government gives an attractive excise duty benefit. This benefit is contingent on the sub-4 meter car's petrol engine displacing under 1.2 liters and its diesel engine displacing under 1.5 liters. The only petrol engine in Mahindra's India line up is a 1.4 Liter Renault sourced unit and this engine is used on the full sized Verito sedan. So, the Mahindra Verito Vibe is expected to make do with the 1.5 liter Renault K9K turbo diesel engine outputting 65 Bhp-160 Nm. 

This engine will be mated to a five speed manual gearbox as standard. Given its sub-4 meter length, the Verito Vibe is expected to be priced very competitively. A sub 5 lakh rupee price tag is what Mahindra could be aiming at. At that kind of price, the Verito Vibe could be pitched as a frugal, spacious and value-for-money alternate to the B+ segment hatchbacks such as the Hyundai i20, the Maruti Swift and the Ford Figo. While pricing is something Mahindra usually gets spot on, the design of the Verito Vibe isn't something that's very appealing. Even from the silhouette, it's pretty easy to make out that the tail lamps of the Verito Vibe stick out like a sore thumb, a veritable eyesore. Also, the C-Pillar is a little too thick, oxymoron notwithstanding. 

With the Verito Vibe's design, Mahindra is taking the path that it should have ideally abandoned with the gargoyle-like Quanto compact SUV. Gauging from the Verito Vibe, it seems like we'll have to tolerate many more oddities from the Mahindra stable. Just as the Quanto was a shortened version of the Xylo MPV, the Verito Vibe is a shortened version of the Verito sedan. In that light, the Verito Vibe shares a wide number of parts with its sedan sibling, giving Mahindra attractive volumes of scale at a minimal investment. Given the Quanto's moderate success despite a competitive price tag, it'll be interesting to see how the Verito Vibe is accepted at the hustings, especially in the face of  competition that's clearly a generation ahead.