Mahindra Marazzo is sold in seven- and eight-seat configurations and comes powered by a 123 PS 1.5-litre diesel engine
Mahindra & Mahindra introduced the much-awaited Marazzo MPV in September 2018 and is strategically positioned with a starting price of Rs. 9.99 lakh and it goes all the way up to Rs. 13.90 lakh (ex-showroom, pan India) for the range-topping model. The Marazzo appeals for customers wanting to go for top-spec Maruti Suzuki Ertiga as well as the people desiring the lower level variants of the Toyota Innova Crysta.
In just over a month of its launch, Mahindra received 10,000 bookings for the Marazzo and its best sales month stood at 3,810 units in October 2018. The largest passenger UV maker in the country has confirmed on its social media that more than 20,000 Marazzo customers are currently in its fold and the numbers are expected to further increase along the course of this year.
In January 2019, Mahindra included the eight-seat configuration in the M8 top-of-the-line model and it has been priced just Rs. 8,000 over the seven-seater M8 variant. This leads to the Marazzo being offered in both seven- and eight-seat options throughout the range consisting of M2, M4, M6 and M8 variants. Mahindra was testing the Marazzo for too long before breaking covers and it comes with segment-first features like surround cool tech.
Heavily influenced by Shark’s design, the Marazzo name was derived from Basque, a sub-language of Spanish, meaning the same. It is styled by Pininfarina, a notorious Italian design house, owned by Mahindra and engineered in conjunction with MNATC (Mahindra North American Technical Centre) in Michigan, Detroit.
The Marazzo has longer wheelbase and is wider than the Innova Crysta despite being priced at substantially lower price bracket and is built on a hybrid chassis capitalising on the advantages of monocoque and ladder frame construction. The Marazzo has plush ride quality and provides a highly insulated cabin with low NVH levels while the interior boasts upmarket features like a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system.
Moreover, it takes power from a brand new 1.5-litre D15 four-cylinder transverse-mounted diesel engine. The lightweight powertrain also made its way into the XUV300 and in Marazzo it kicks out 123 PS and 300 Nm of peak torque with a claimed mileage of 17.6 kmpl.
Connected to a six-speed manual gearbox, Mahindra is expected to offer an AMT transmission later this year while a petrol motor will likely arrive in 2020. In late 2018, the Marazzo created history by receiving four stars in Global NCAP crash tests – the first made-in-India MPV to achieve that feat.