While we are familiar with Mahindra’s range of bakkies and SUVs, this brand’s influence extends far beyond passenger vehicles and load-luggers.
The annual NAMPO Harvest Day (Oesdag) afforded Mahindra South Africa the opportunity to set up an impressive exhibition for their rural fans. Every Mahindra vehicle currently on sale as well as a host of accessories were on display, including the award-winning Scorpio-N in Adventure trim, and visitors could participate in some off-roading demonstrations on-site.
They also furnished a couple of motoring media folks with a Mahindra each to drive to and from the event - a 500-ish km round-trip from Gauteng. That review will follow shortly, but for now, let’s first look at some things you probably didn’t expect in Mahindra’s catalogue.
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Mahindra tractors
Here’s a fun fact of which few people are aware: Mahindra is the world’s largest tractor producer. Consequently, examples of the tractor lines on sale in South Africa were on display at NAMPO 2024, including a small vineyard model and the new-generation 8600 series.
The company also manufactures a wide variety of farming implements to go with their tractors, and a number of these were obviously also shown. With such a significant presence in the local agri-business sector, it’s only logical that the Pik Up quickly managed to become equally popular among rural buyers looking for honest workhorses - long before the Karoo versions even started appearing on the school run!
Mahindra construction equipment
Mahindra also plays a notable part in the construction business, and displayed both the EarthMaster VX90 TLB and RoadMaster G90 grader at NAMPO 2024. As with the other pillars in the business, fuel efficiency are key selling points for Mahindra’s heavy construction equipment.
The G90 in particular deserves a mention, being touted to be the most fuel efficient backhoe loader and grader on the market, consuming as little as 8 litres of diesel per hour. It also has an operator’s cabin with car-like comfort and ergonomics, active control over its centre pin for more precise blade control, and a 50-degree blade rotation.
Find out more about Mahindra’s heavy earth-moving and road-building equipment here.
3 SUVs and a plethora of bakkies
These are the Mahindra products more familiar to most consumers, and the NAMPO exhibition showcased all three SUVs currently on offer, along with a host of Pik Ups ranging from single-cab workhorses to the lifestyle-oriented Karoo S11 range-toppers.
But, while the XUV300 and XUV700 are appealing in their own right, the real attention-grabber on show was the Scorpio-N Adventure. With its glossy black paintwork, steel bumpers and rock sliders, functional roof rack and chunky off-road tyres, the Adventure amplifies the go-anywhere appeal of the new Scorpio-N for a comparatively small additional outlay.
Mechanically unchanged from the regular Scorpio-N 4x4, the Adventure boasts improved off-roading ability (thanks to increased approach-, departure- and breakover angles) and increased underbody protection, and comes fitted with sturdy recovery hooks on all corners and a winch mounting in front. Given all these enhancements, the Adventure’s price premium of R 35 300 over the high-spec Z8L 4XPLOR seems reasonable, and makes overlanding seem even more appealing.
The locally-assembled Pik Up remains a mainstay in the Mahindra range, however, and to this end, the various Karoo trim packages were shown alongside farm-focused single-cabs. That doesn’t imply that the Karoo double cabs with their Dusk, Dawn, Dew and Storm are less capable as workhorses, mind you - the toughness and utility is baked into every Pik Up derivative, even if some look more upmarket than others.
This will likely be the last outing for the capable but ageing XUV300 in its current form, however. A facelifted version has been shown in India already, and we’re expecting the latest version in SA sometime during the second half of 2024. New styling, revised petrol engines, and updated in-car tech will feature in the upcoming model, along with a name change to XUV 3X0.
Martin Pretorius
- Proudly CHANGECARS
