Mahindra Marazzo

Codenamed the U321, Mahindra officially revealed their all-new MPV in India as the Marazzo. The Marazzo is an eight-seater which was developed by Mahindra’s North American department with inputs from Pininfarina and Mahindra’s design centre in Chennai. It is the first vehicle ever to employ a ladder-on-frame layout with a front-wheel-drive system. The Marazzo is available in four variants with only diesel power across six colour options.

The Marazzo is a stylish looking MPV with a well-proportioned body. The styling is inspired by a shark, according to Mahindra. The grille carries Mahindra’s vertical-slat design but is tweaked to appear as shark teeth. There is an ample amount of chrome on the fascia along with black inserts. The front bumper has stylish air damps while the twin-barrel swept-back headlamps add to the aggressive appearance. There are LED DRLs on the fog lamps with chrome inserts and lots of black treatment. The MPV sits on 17-inch alloy wheels with disc brakes on all four corners. The large shark-fin-like tail lamps dominate the rather simple-looking rear. The overall design of the Marazzo is aggressive but not in-your-face, there are subtle creases all around and the rear is simple but not boring. Although dimensionally it is smaller than the Innova Crysta, the Marazzo has a longer wheelbase and it is slightly wider as well. This means ample room on the inside.

The cabin is well laid out with modern dashboard design and piano black finish. The centre console is dominated by a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system sitting above the air-con controls and the gear-lever. There is ample stowage all around the cabin. The instrument cluster is all-new with a unique purple backlit integrating a multi-function display screen between the twin pod clusters. The buttons and switches have been ergonomically laid out within reach. The middle row seats can be reclined or folded flat according to convenience. Meanwhile, the third row appears to be spacious as well. The new feature of the Marazzo is the longitudinally-roof-mounted rear AC which claims to make the cabin the fastest cooling in its class. The low NVH levels of the Marazzo also make it the quietest cabin in the class.

Powering the Marazzo is a newly developed 1.5-litre turbocharged diesel four-cylinder engine developing 121bhp at 3500rpm and 300Nm of torque from as low as 1750rpm. The transmission is a six-speed manual. Neither a petrol powertrain nor an automatic transmission is even being offered as an option at the moment. This will be the case until 2020 since Mahindra will introduce a petrol engine only after the BS-VI norms comes in to effect.

The pricing for the Marazzo ranges from Rs 9.99 lakhs to Rs 13.9 lakhs (ex-showroom). At this price bracket, it is significantly more expensive than the Ertiga but it is also significantly cheaper than the Innova Crysta. The Honda BR-V and the Tata Hexa are the closest rivals for the Marazzo.