Inside Mahindra’s enormous secret SUV proving ground

It might be the world’s largest tractor manufacturer, but Mahindra remains a relative minnow in the Australian auto market. So here’s a quick run-down for those of you yet to make acquaintance.

Mahindra is not a new brand. In fact, soon after it was established in 1945, the Indian auto-maker began assembling vehicles including the Willys Jeep under licence, and today continues to produce its spiritual successor, the Mahindra Thar.

Over almost 80 years, as well as being an agricultural giant by selling a wide range of tractors both here and overseas, the Mumbai-based company has become a leading SUV and ute brand across Asia, as well as owning Italian design house Pininfarina and being heavily invested in aerospace, IT and real estate development.

But its first 100 per cent indigenous light vehicle – the Mahindra Pik-Up – didn’t arrive in Australia until 2007 and its modest local line-up was only recently expanded to comprise three models: the seven-seat Mahindra XUV700 medium SUV, the larger Scorpio off-road SUV and the aging (and soon-to-be replaced) Pik-Up ute.

Getting the attention (and importantly, trust) of Australian consumers remains a major hurdle for the brand and one that it wants to leap sooner rather than later, given Mahindra’s ambitious plan to become a household name in Australia by 2030, but which time its new ute will be aimed directly at the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger in one of the world’s biggest pick-up markets.

While those plans will be largely influenced by the success of its upcoming Global Pik-Up, which is due to arrive by mid-2026, Mahindra is attempting to strengthen its local presence Down Under by appointing more dealerships, especially in urban centres.

It’s also been shipping folks like us over to its home country to get a closer look at what it’s all about, hence our recent tour to the south of India – a three-day whirlwind trip based out of Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

It began with a lengthy eight-hour tour of its research and development hub, dubbed Mahindra Research Valley, which could easily have spanned a number of days, given its sheer size.

Set on a 124-acre site – complete with the odd stray monkey and dog – the R&D facility houses more than 3000 engineers who quite literally call it home, with a private housing community provided for full-time employees and their families, complete with schools, hospitals and shops.

Led by high-ranking Mahindra executives, our guided tour visited several of the R&D centre’s components, from durability testing stations to emissions labs and chassis engineering departments.

Every stop had a handful of engineers at the ready to explain – often in extreme detail – how Mahindra designs, builds and tests its vehicles.

From eerily well-sealed sound-proof chambers that test for unwanted vehicle noises, to rooms with dashboards mounted to shaking rigs (testing for rattles and squeaks) and workshops buzzing with engines, dynos and machinery, the prying eyes of our small group of Aussie automotive media had the privilege of seeing it all.

Mahindra says every vehicle component is tested to ensure its cars are durable and built to a high standard, and safety is also a major concern for a brand that was recently stung by a zero-star ANCAP rating for its Scorpio, and whose Pik-Up is no longer rated by ANCAP.

However, Mahindra Australia says the Scorpio will soon be fitted with important safety technologies including autonomous emergency braking (AEB), expects its XUV700 to receive a five-star ANCAP safety rating and promises the same for its all-new Pik-Up replacement.

Indeed, the company’s head of global product development, R Velusamy, told media that Mahindra designed the front-end crash structure of the Pik-Up’s ladder-frame chassis so well that it essentially caused too much damage to other vehicles during Global NCAP crash tests overseas.

In order to do well in local ANCAP testing, he said Mahindra vehicles need less front-end reinforcement due to the difference in testing requirements between ANCAP and Global NCAP.

Nevertheless, Mahindra engineers are very proud of their ‘ring’ and ‘bridge’ body structure, which provides additional structural rigidity for the passenger cell and crash-prone areas.

The design is said to provide optimal energy absorption of both longitudinal and latitudinal forces during a crash, however, Velusamy says active safety is a higher priority than passive safety, “to prevent accidents happening in the first place”.

From the Research Valley to the road, we then hit the massive Mahindra SUV Proving Track (MSPT).

Located further outside the city, MSPT is situated on 450 acres and incorporates a high-speed bowl, skid pan, 4x4 track and a range of road surfaces (cobblestones, sand, dirt, potholes, rough tarmac and more) to test vehicle performance.

A quick scan of the car park and you quickly get an idea of the Indian manufacturer’s ambitions. A wide range of non-Mahindra competitor vehicles are scattered throughout the facility and that’s because it benchmarks its cars against what it considers to be the best in each segment.

If our trip revealed one thing, it’s that the ambitious car-maker has no shortage of passion. Its people are dedicated, cheerful and super switched-on.

Mahindra might not be doing anything ground-breaking when it comes to vehicle development and testing, but it does appear to be ticking all the boxes now required by global car-makers.

With its dealer network growing slowly but steadily Down Under, Mahindra plans to publicly report its local sales data for the first time from 2024.

And beyond that it has plans to release no fewer than five all-new EVs, and potentially a new-generation battery-electric Thar, all of which will be considered for Australian release.

Indeed, there’s no reason Mahindra can’t replicate the success that Chinese car-makers like MG, GWM-Haval and BYD have achieved in Australia in recent years, once it has a wider model range – led by its first global ute, which will have significant local development input – sold by a bigger Australian dealer network, and the public recognition that comes with more cars on the road.

Whether the budget-friendly brand becomes the household name it wants to be Down Under remains to be seen.