Mahindra seems to be on a mission to fill every gap it can find in the compact SUV segment, and it is readying its latest entrant, the NuvoSport for an early April launch. The launch of the Brezza seems to have hastened their plans, and like the Brezza, the NuvoSport is going to be a sub-4m crossover.
However, unlike the Brezza or the other sub compact SUVs, the NuvoSport looks more like a tall-boy hatchback which has been to the gym. Essentially a Quanto in spirit (and in side-profile), the NuvoSport ditches the Quanto’s grinning face and replaces it with a more aggressive look, with the flared wheel arches and the cladding completing it. While the front does look overly complicated (why not move the headlamps up and integrate the turn signals into it?), the same was said of the KUV which, infact, looks much better in flesh.
The NuvoSport is going to be based on the same new ladder-frame platform as the Scorpio, however not with the same wheelbase. This new generation platform developed by Mahindra is modular by design and other than the Scorpio, it also underpins the TUV 300 too. Therefore the NuvoSport will also receive the improvements Mahindra made to the Scorpio ride and handling through the changed suspension geometry and improved dampers.
The NuvoSport, developed by the Mahindra Research Valley facility in Chennai, should be available with the 1.5-litre turbocharged diesel from the TUV 300 along with an AMT as an option. With the KUV 100 and TUV 300 covering the 5 lakh to 10 lakh bracket, we think that Mahindra will look to price the NuvoSport in between them, in the 6.5 lakh to 8.5 lakh range.
