Mahindra & Mahindra, an Indian multinational automobile manufacturing company will be introducing an automatic variant of its highly successful model, the Mahindra XUV500 next year. The automatic variant will be equipped with a six-speed gearbox designed and engineered by Ssangyong, a group company. The current automatic gearboxes of Ssangyong are retired Mercedes Benz transmissions. Y I Lee, Chief Executive Officer and President at Ssangyong Motor Company said, Yes we are going to install the 6-speed automatic gearbox that’s coming in 2015 and Mahindra is also considering that same transmission for XUV500, so in terms of volume that’s great for us and we can save some money.
Currently, Mahindra only has the Scorpio in the utility vehicle category to feature automatic gearbox. DSI (Drivetrain Systems International), an Australian firm which supplied automatic gearboxes for Scorpio is now owned by Geely, Chinese auto major. In addition to electric sportscar Halo and hybrid XUV500, Mahindra also showcased Quanto with automated manual gearbox at 2014 Auto Expo. With this gearbox used by Maruti in their vehicles already and Tata on the forthcoming Zest saloon, we won’t be surprised if XUV500 gets automated manual transmission. What’s your opinion? Should Mahindra introduce XUV500 with automated or normal automatic gearbox? Stay tuned for updates on the automatic variant of XUV500.
