In a surprising move, which might disappoint Mahindra fanboys, Mahindra and Mahindra has discontinued the automatic variants of its highly successful Scorpio SUV.
The Mahindra Scorpio SUV had been available in its automatic avatar in the S10 variant and came in aid for transmission duties in both manual and automatic versions. Now, the details of the automatic variants have been removed from the Mahindra Scorpio’s microsite and the same has also been confirmed by the official Twitter handle of the manufacturer @MahindraRise when questioned by an automobile enthusiast.
Incidentally, the automatic variants are no longer an option in both the 2.2 L mHawk and 1.99 L mHawk engine options. While the reason behind the sudden move from Mahindra is not very clear, it does give rise to a number of speculations. The one reason which comes to the top of the list is the poor demand for its automatic variants. Mahindra might also be facing issues with sourcing the component from its OEM supplier. In fact, there were rumours earlier that Mahindra might ditch the then existing auto box component supplier in favour of a 6-speed auto tranny sourced from Aisin.
But the more plausible and reasonable explanation might be the launch of the facelifted version of the Mahindra Scorpio. Up until its untimely discontinuation, the Scorpio used an automatic gearbox which was a 6-speed torque converter from DSI, for its longitudinally mounted mHawk engine. The elder sibling from the Mahindra stable, XUV 500, meanwhile, has been using a more modern and refined 6-speed automatic gearbox sourced from Aisin to do the duty for its transversely mounted and albeit more powerful 140 bhp mHawk engine.
While the most obvious reason for this discontinuation should be the launch of the mid-life refresh of Mahindra Scorpio, it would be interesting to see what auto box Mahindra chooses to use when the facelift gets launched with the more powerful 140 bhp mHawk engine which should be longitudinally mounted.