Cut-price new family SUV brewing: Rising star to get a big facelift soon as 2026 Mahindra XUV7XO takes shape to take on the 2026 Toyota RAV4 and Haval H6

The Mahindra XUV 700 may soon be history, with a revised – and renamed – version on the way sooner than you might expect.

Ushering in fresh styling, a massive interior upgrade and a host of other modifications underneath, the newcomer will likely be badged the XUV7XO, adopting the company’s updated alphanumeric naming strategy first seen when the XUV 300 morphed into the XUV3X0 small SUV last year.

Launch timing for Project W616 has yet to be confirmed, but overseas reports are predicting a debut sometime next year, which augers well for a release in Australia during 2027.

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The most obvious visual changes will occur up front, with the angular LED lighting signature of Mahindra’s advanced BE 6e and larger XEV 9e SUV electric vehicles (EV) replacing the current units, to give the old XUV 700 a much-more contemporary appearance.

A different grille, reprofiled bumpers, squared off wheel arch cladding, restyled alloy wheels and a triangular LED tail-light design should do the same for the rest of the mid-sized SUV, as well.

The EV influences don’t stop there, either, with the XUV7X0 set to adopt a variation of Mahindra’s vast triple screen display as offered in the BE 6e and XEV 9e, underlining what may be the introduction of substantial software tech.

Speaking of which, a big step up in advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) has been confirmed off-the-record to CarsGuide, with blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert/braking and other safety features coming to the family SUV.

This is part of Mahindra’s efforts to better meet global crash-test safety requirements such as ANCAP and Euro NCAP, some of which demand specific structural deformation properties in order to help achieve a five-star rating.

To that end, the company will now conduct separate Australia-focused testing for every model it launches in this market.

Finally, there may be more new activity going on under the bonnet.

Along with variations of the existing 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol and 2.2-litre turbo-diesel choices, it is understood the XUV7X0 may add a range-extender plug-in-hybrid to the options list.

Whether this set-up consists of the expected 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine mated to an electric motor and lithium-ion battery is yet to be confirmed.

A significant update by anybody's standards, the changes should see the XUV7XO be far-more competitive against rivals like the Chery Tiggo 7, Haval H6, KGM Actyon, MG HS, Nissan X-Trail and Toyota RAV4 than the XUV 700 ever was.

That said, the latter has proved to be a huge success for Mahindra since its launch in India in 2021, reaching over 300,000 sales in under four years in an extremely competitive market.