When on sale, Mahindra Marazzo was the only vehicle in India to feature a ladder frame chassis with a transverse-mounted engine and FWD
After multiple speculations of a rebirth and a reboot, Mahindra Marazzo seems to have finally met its demise. Mahindra Auto has omitted Marazzo from its product portfolio on the official website. Is this a temporary glitch? Will Marazzo come back in a commercial-only avatar? Or is it axed for good? Only time will tell.
Mahindra Marazzo Removed From Official Website
While Mahindra has a successful portfolio, the company was still lugging around older unappealing vehicles like KUV100 and Marazzo. KUV100 was taken down from the official website in the recent past and now, it is Marazzo’s turn. It is not yet clear whether this action is a glitch or a temporary thing or a permanent goodbye.
Within the Indian auto industry, Mahindra Marazzo was a unique product. We say this because no other vehicle has a combination of ladder-frame chassis, transversely mounted engine and front-wheel-drive. Marazzo was one of its kind and rivaled the likes of Tata Hexa, Innova Crysta and Maruti Suzuki XL6.
Marazzo even features sophisticated forged Aluminium suspension components, considered revolutionary in its segment. Good ride quality, rear AC vents with diffuse and direct functions, captain chairs or bench seat 2nd-row options with one-touch tumble, rear sun blinds, decent space in all-three rows and shark-inspired design were some of Marazzo’s highlights.
Sales analysis
The shark-inspired design didn’t seem to have worked on Indian audience and it had a typical MPV silhouette. A mistake Tata Motors also made with Aria. Indian buyers at the time of Marazzo’s launch, were more interested in SUV designs with a flat fascia, high-set bonnet and a more butch appeal. Think, Scorpio.
Looking at Marazzo’s sales, we can see that Mahindra sold 60 units of its premium MPV per month in India on an average. That turns out to be 2 units a day in the entire country. In the past 12 months (June 2023 to May 2024), Marazzo sold a total of 721 units with sales peaking in September 2023 at 144 units and was the lowest in May 2024 at 16 units.
Should Marazzo make a come-back?
A big yes. Mahindra knows how to flip vehicles. New Thar and Bolero Neo lineup are stark examples of Mahindra’s capabilities in flipping vehicles to glory. Marazzo has a lot of potential and it is sad to see it cease to exist (not yet confirmed) from the Indian market.
The company currently lacks a compact SUV. If Mahindra changed Marazzo’s name, gave it a flatter fascia, a taller bonnet, RWD mated to the same 1.5L turbo diesel, a few modern features shared with XUV3XO and market it as an SUV, it has huge potential in compact SUV space.
In the sea of FWD vehicles marketed as SUVs, Mahindra would be selling a real SUV. Say, between Citroen C3 Aircross and Hyundai Alcazar and Kia Carnival. Something larger than upcoming Mahindra Thar Armada with three-row seating.
