Mahindra has launched its SsangYong Rexton premium SUV with a price-tag of Rs 17.67 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai) for the manual variant, while the automatic costs Rs 19.67 lakh. Assembled at Mahindra’s Chakan plant, the company’s first SUV from the SsangYong stable will compete with the likes of the Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour, Hyundai Santa Fe and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport.

The new Rexton is powered by a five-cylinder DOHC 2.7-litre turbo-diesel motor, sourced from Mercedes and will be offered with five-speed manual and five-speed automatic variants. The engine has been tuned differently for the two gearboxes, so the manual version will have a power and torque rating of 162bhp and 34.7kgm, while the automatic version will produce a far more substantial 184bhp and 41kgm.

The Rexton comes in two variants, RX5 and RX7. 

The RX5 is available with a five-speed manual gearbox. The interiors get premium fabric upholstery, leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear knob, and an eight-way manually adjustable driver seat.

The RX7 comes with a five-speed E-tronic automatic gearbox with manual mode and winter switch. There are E-tronic shift buttons on the steering wheel and it also gets a shift position indicator, memory function with three presets for the driver seat and wing mirrors, electronic sunroof with sunblind, automatic headlamps, rain-sensing wipers, cruise control and all-wheel-drive system. It also has premium leather upholstery, leather-wrapped steering wheel with additional metal grain accents, gear knob with chrome and eight-way electrically adjustable driver seat.

In terms of styling, the new Rexton comes with a refreshed front fascia, new projector headlamps with LED-surrounds and LED fog lamps, all-new front bumper, new wheel-arches and LED turn-indicators on the wing mirrors. The Rexton’s trademark Z-shaped C-pillar is retained and rear styling gets minor sheet metal changes. The rear bumper-line now flows well with the lip of the bootlid and the SUV also gets mildly re-shaped tail-lamps. 

On the inside, the SUV has received minor upgrades – lighter shades and improved plastics. Like the XUV500, the Rexton too comes loaded with features including a sunroof, climate control, rear parking sensors, automatic headlamps, rain-sensing wipers, cruise control and steering-mounted audio controls.

According to Mahindra, the Rexton delivers an ARAI-claimed fuel-efficiency figure of 12.4kpl for the manual Rexton and 11.18kpl for the automatic version.