Mahindra Scorpio-N In, Tata Safari Storme Out, As Police Car In This State
The police departments in many states use rugged SUVs as their official vehicles. Getting to see Tata Safaris and Mahindra Boleros in these roles is common. Madhya Pradesh is now getting ready for a major overhaul of its cop fleet. The state police force now uses Tata Safari Stormes for enforcement. These will soon be replaced by brand-new Mahindra Scorpio-Ns.
The new SUVs will be inducted into the force on August 15, 2025. If you'd remember, Mahindra has already scheduled a mega event on the day. The carmaker is expected to showcase a slew of vision cars and commence a few launches, that day. The event is scheduled to take place in Chennai. It remains to be seen if Mahindra will use the same occasion to make the official announcement.
The current fleet of Safari Stormes will be replaced by Mahindra SUVs- comprising both Scorpio-Ns and Bolero NEOs. The Scorpio-N will be used inside the city while the NEO will be deployed in the rural areas of Madhya Pradesh, as per sources. These will be equipped with wireless communication setups, live location tracking and GPS systems.
A total of 1200 vehicles will inducted, 700 of which will be four-wheelers, Mahindra SUVs are known to account for 600 of these. 500 will be two-wheelers. These will operate from different districts and will be kept operational 24/7.
Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav is expected to gift the newly inducted vehicles to the police department. The first batch of vehicles has reportedly reached Bhopal and is awaiting further processing and delivery. A few videos that surfaced online, show these parked by the streets on Madhya Pradesh. The SUVs are seen with beacon lights installed on them.
The decision for replacement came after the Stormes reached their end of life, and after their engines failed to comply with the current norms and standards. The new fleet of Mahindras is expected to bring fresh winds of discipline and enforcement to the state. It is claimed to bring the emergency response time down in most places.
The state police department has also announced that from the 15th of August, the Dial 112 emergency response will be available in Madhya Pradesh as well, and the new fleet will be put to use for this. 112 can be used to seek assistance, instead of dialling 100. The government claims that the new helpline will get the assistance delivered within 15-20 minutes. At present, Dial 112 is already in use in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
More About The Scorpio-N And Bolero NEO
Mahindra launched the Scorpio-N in India in June, 2022. Today, it is available in both 4x4 and 4x2 configurations, powered by both petrol and diesel engines. Both manual and automatic gearboxes are offered as well. The powertrain details of the inducted vehicles aren't known yet. However, most of them are likely the lower variants, as we can see steel wheels in the video.
The petrol engine on the Scorpio-N is a 2.0L turbocharged (mStallion) unit that makes 203hp and 370 Nm (380 Nm in automatic) while the 2.2L turbocharged (mHawk) diesel engine produces 132hp and 300Nm on lower variants and up to 175hp and 370Nm (400 Nm on automatic) on the higher trims. Mahindra has based this SUV on its third-generation body-on-frame platform.
The Bolero NEO was first launched in 2021 and comes with a 1.5L turbocharged diesel engine which is capable of making 100hp and 260Nm of torque. It is underpinned by the third-generation ladder-frame chassis as well.