Mahindra To Supply 1,986 Scorpio Pik-Ups To The Indian Army
Mahindra has now signed a Rs 2,700 crore contract with the Indian Armed Force to supply 1986 units of Scorpio Pik-Ups. This is not the first time, Mahindra has got into a deal like this with the Army. With this new contract in place, Mahindra will be supplying over 4,000 units of vehicles to the Army. This includes Scorpio Pik-Ups, Scorpio Classic, Scorpio N and Bolero Pik-Up 4WD. Apart from this, Indian Army will also have more than 7,000 Mahindra Scorpio SUVs.
Mahindra Scorpio Pik-Up
Mahindra Scorpio Pik-Up has been spotted testing on Indian roads several times. It is actually not available on sale in India for civilians. Mahindra exports Scorpio Pik-Up to South Africa and Australian market and is a huge hit there.
We recently came across test mules of the Pik-Up and it was actually based of the Scorpio N. It gets Scorpio N like front fascia with a single cab design. We have seen dual-cab concept of Scorpio N Pik Up in the past. It needs to be seen if Mahindra will be offering single cab, dual cab or both to the Army.
Mahindra will be making changes that are specific to the Army to meet their standards. This means. For example, the SUV might not come with alloy wheels at all. They may use steel rims. It would be finished in Army Green shade and both the Pik Ups would get a roll bar higher than the roof height of the SUV to protect the cabin in case of a rollover crash.
As Mahindra is supplying the Pik-Up to the Army, they would only be offering the 4x4 version. Mahindra offers both petrol and diesel engine options with the Scorpio N but, the Army would only be getting the diesel version.
Mahindra is likely to strip down the cabin and make provisions to install Army equipment. We are not sure if the Army would be choosing the manual or the 6-speed automatic transmission. The Indian Army will alsobe inducting 2,978 units of Force Gurkha SUV to the Army fleet.
As mentioned above, Mahindra sells the Scorpio Pik Up in international market and the upcoming Scorpio N based Pik Up is likely to be launched there soon.
The Pik-Up will be offered with premium features that we have seen in the regular Scorpio N. It would come with leatherette seats, digital instrument cluster, 8 inch touchscreen infotainment system, automatic climate control, sunroof and so on.
Mahindra might also introduce features like level 2 ADAS, trailer sway control with the Pik-Up. ADAS is unlikely to be seen in the Army version.
Mahindra Scorpio N Pik-Up will be powered by the same engine as the SUV. There will be a 2.0 litre, turbocharged petrol engine from mStallion series. This engine generates 200 Bhp and 380 Nm of peak torque.
The diesel version of the SUV uses a 2.2 litre mHawk turbocharged engine that generates 172 Bhp and 400 Nm of peak torque. Both petrol and diesel engine come with manual and automatic transmission option. Only the diesel gets 4x4. Mahindra is unlikely to launch the Scorpio N Pik-Up in India as it has never found many buyers here.