Small cars seem to be flavour of the season as far as the Indian auto market is concerned. And every car manufacturer wants to try its luck in the segment. The latest one to display its willingness to do the new is Mahindra and Mahindra. The Indian carmaker plans to introduce not just one or two but three new hatchbacks by the year 2013-14.

Yes, the secret is out in the open now and everything seems to fit in. While the M&M SUV’s are admired by most Indians, the company currently has nothing to offer to the small car buyers. The company has taken notice of this gap and plans to invest about Rs 1000 crore to lure the small car buyers in India. The recent news of the car maker developing a smaller version of the Xylo SUV seems to fit in the larger picture. It would also be safe to assume that the Mini Xylo MUV is being used as a bait for something else that M&M has up its sleeves.

Another piece of the puzzle that makes sense is the M&M Logan. The car maker already has the Logan platform which will help it experiment easily for a small car. M&M’s small cars will flaunt a very competitive price tag of Rs. 2-5 lakh. It is also speculated that M&M is building a new platform and the small cars, codenamed as S101, S102, S103 and S104, are likely to be based on it.

Small cars apart, there are rumours that the Mahindra W201 World SUV will also hit the Indian roads in early 2011 or 2012. Much to our irritation, M&M has not revealed any specifications of the SUV, but that does not stop us from putting our brains to the tough task of speculation. Mahindra’s natural choice for the SUV should be the 4-cylinder 2.2 CRDe engine. We also have some unconfirmed statements saying that Mahindra might actually be working on V6 petrol engine. But considering that the SUV would be launched in the European and American markets, four cylinder diesel and V6 petrol engine options do not really sound very fancy.

The W201 World SUV looks attractively muscular and has the trademark Mahindra grille. The SUV has been developed on an entirely new monocoque frame and will compete with titans like Chevrolet Captiva and Ford Endeavour.

All these give a clear indication of the high voltage competition that Mahindra plans to serve to the other car makers in India.