Mahindra XUV 500 | Indian Car Blog

Mahindra XUV500 provided a thrilling opportunity for 100 purple club members. These members won through a unique contest and took their XUV500s for a privileged experience on the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida.

Getting a chance to drive on an international racing track is what most car racing fans dream about. You may be missing the gruelling, nerve racking experience of a real race, but then even to drive at a friendly pace on the world class track can set the adrenaline pulsing faster and much faster.

To add to the excitement, Gaurav Gill kept company on fast flying laps. It was relieving his three times National Champion and APRC (Asia Pacific Rally Championship) victories from close quarters. Lohitt Urs, the INRC (Indian National Rally Championship) winner joined Gill and the 100 lucky persons in taking lap after lap, striving to keep pace with these masters was an unforgettable experience.
Well, Mahindra XUV500 drives as well on regular roads as on the BIC. The 2179 cc can power you along at 137 bhp and build up racer torque up to 330 Nm @1600-2800rpm. It is a fifth generation engine sporting variable Geometry Turbocharger. Coupled to a 6 speed synchromesh manual transmission Mahindra XUV500 gives a true crossover driving experience, so you can stop bothering whether you are driving inside the city or zooming along the highway or grappling with rural tracks.

Leather wrapped seats, steering wheels and a few contact points, intelligently placed controls strike you with a sense of elegance as soon as you get inside a Mahindra XUV500. Every time you ride in this XUV, you are sure to feel the comfort – the front seats are bolstered to keep the passengers in place even when you take a steep turn at high-speed. The driver has what Mahindra classifies as a tailor-made throne – 8-way adjustable, the seat has special lumbar support.

While driving a car of this class, you are sure to look for style. Step into the nearest dealer place -Mahindra XUV500 is stunningly stylish.

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India’s US $12.5 billion Mahindra Group recently launched its global SUV – Mahindra XUV500 – designed and developed entirely in-house at Mahindra’s world class R&D facility – the Mahindra Research Valley – located in Chennai, India’s automotive hub.

The XUV500 launched simultaneously in India and South Africa and will set the stage for the emergence of the Group as a force to be reckoned with in the global arena. The response to the XUV500 in India was overwhelming withbookings sold out for the next four months within 10 days of its launch. New bookings of the XUV500 have hence been temporarily deferred since October 11th, necessitated by the never seen before response to the SUV.

The digital strategy reached out to over 10 million people across the globe, with 3.7 million online mentions of the brand. “The XUV500 represents Mahindra’s global ambitions as it seamlessly integrates world-class technology with the very best in Indian innovation. Its distinctive value proposition – bolstered by a new age digital strategy – has resulted in the XUV500 becoming an overnight sensation in its home country, India and I am sure this success will be replicated across the globe,” said Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Group.

In addition to finding favour with automotive enthusiasts, the XUV500 also became an online and social media sensation, overnight. This was in large part due to the concerted digital strategy employed by Mahindra to increase decibel levels ahead of the launch. To begin with, the much anticipated name of the vehicle was revealed online, creating an aura of mystery around the vehicle. This was followed by a rather unique online contest which invited viewers to guess the price of the product, with the grand prize being an XUV500.

The contest fuelled further excitement leading up to the launch. The product website also hosted several preview videos of the product and the teaser TVC in the pre-launch phase, whetting the appetite of online enthusiasts everywhere. This created a great deal of momentum for the brand in the online space, with the digital campaign finally culminating in a live webcast which saw 1,50,000 viewers log on to witness the launch of Mahindra’s first global SUV platform. A perfect ending to this social media and digital phenomenon was the morphing of the microsite into a very advanced and interactive animated video which allowed viewers to ‘unveil’ the XUV500 themselves online and share it on their social media profiles for their friends to view.

The online strategy proved to be a resounding success as Mahindra’s latest offering in the SUV space grabbed eyeballs not only in India but across the world. The contest to guess the price of the XUV500 resulted in 1,15,000 entries, while the product received 4,50,000 ‘Likes’ on Facebook alone. The product website received 11,00,000 unique visitors with 1,50,000 viewers logging on for the live webcast.

This strategy reached out to over 10 million people across the globe, with 3.7 million online mentions of the brand. Moreover, the XUV500 website received a phenomenal response with over 5,90,000 visits from India, over 17,300 from the USA and 9,500 plus visits from the UAE amongst other countries such as UK, Singapore, South Africa, Germany, Canada and Australia.

M&M says that the XUV500 incorporates significant inputs in styling and development from customers across the world. It is truly unique and global for the manner in which it was conceived and designed with all R&D activities for this SUV aligned with best-in-class quality and standards, technology, testing norms, regulations and emissions from the very start. In fact, consumer research for the Mahindra XUV500 was carried out in various Western markets, South Africa and India, with testing and validation of the product being done across Europe, Australia and South Africa among others.