New ultra-affordable EV isn’t from China

Mahindra has thrown the covers off the electric version of its ultra-affordable 3XO small SUV in its Indian home market.

The XUV 3X0 EV launches in two variants with a single powertrain and battery. It starts from the equivalent of $23,000 in its home market, which if the brand could even get remotely close to for export markets would give the small SUV a shot at being the most affordable EV in Australia.

Currently its rivals would include the BYD Atto 2 (from $31,990), Jaecoo J5 EV (from $35,990) and Chery E5 (from $36,990).

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The current combustion version of the XUV 3XO starts from $23,990 (drive-away), making it one of the most affordable new cars in Australia.

The 3XO EV is equipped with a 39.4kWh battery offering a claimed 285km of driving range, and has a front mounted single electric motor for both variants producing 110kW/310Nm. The brand said this allows the small EV to accelerate from 0-100km/h in 8.3 seconds.

The two variant range consists of higher-end versions for the Indian market, similar to the grades of the combustion car made available in Australia. Standard equipment includes 16-inch alloys, dual 10.25-inch screens for the digital instrument cluster and multimedia touchscreen, wireless phone mirroring, online connectivity, a wireless phone charger, keyless entry and push-start and dual-zone climate control.

Only the top-spec AX7L grade gets a panoramic sunroof, 17-inch two-tone alloys and the full active safety suite.

Both trims of the 3XO EV can charge at up to 50kW on a DC charger, allowing a 10-80 per cent top-up time of 50 minutes or at 7.2kW on an AC charger, for a 0-100 per cent charge in 6.5 hours. Both also have frequency selective suspension damping.

Mahindra’s local operation told CarsGuide there are currently no plans to bring the 3XO EV to Australia, despite its current combustion-only range looking down the barrel of fines from the federal government’s tough New Vehicle Efficiency Standards (NVES), which will impose fines on high-emitters by 2027.

The brand also confirmed it has “other plans” on the EV front, which will bolster its offering in the future. 

While the brand stopped short of confirming any models, it seems likely this will include models from its dedicated BE (Born Electric) EV division. This means the BE6 crossover, XEV 9e coupe SUV and 9S mid-size SUV could be on the agenda, which use the brand’s new Inglo platform that uses technology sourced from VW’s MEB architecture.

These higher-end offerings will be more expensive than the 3XO, but potentially more competitive in the mid-section of the market rather than the bottom-end, which is fiercely competed over by Chinese automakers.

Mahindra recently has rolled out model year updates to its XUV700 and a more significant update to its Scorpio 4x4, which finally included major active safety equipment it was missing from its initial launch.