Mahindra Scorpio to get new 6-speed automatic gearbox

After launching an automatic version of the XUV500, Mahindra has revealed that it will soon launch an updated version of the Scorpio with a similar 6-speed gearbox. The new Scorpio automatic with the updated gearbox will not be available immediately and is most likely to see the light of day by the end of 2016.

The new gearbox, just like on the XUV500 will be a 6-speed gearbox with a manual mode added in. The gearbox is made by Japanese OEM manufacturer Aisin Seiki and will be adapted to fit the Scorpio. The adaptation will be necessary as unlike the XUV500 which has a transverse or east-west orientation for the engine and gearbox due to its front wheel drive setup is different from the Scorpio which has a north-south or longitudinally mounted engine due to its rear wheel drive setup. That said, apart from a different casing and a different drive layout, the internals for the gearbox will be similar to the one in the XUV500.

The gearbox also has inbuilt features like hill start assist and a crawl function that holds the car at 10kmph (without pressing the accelerator), which is a boon in start-stop traffic. The gearbox will also have an inbuilt feature which will detect the height that the car is at and change the shifting patterns accordingly in order to offer the best performance. The new gearbox will also offer an auto neutral function if the SUV comes to a stop for a particular set amount of time possibly at a traffic signal. The new gearbox will replace the 5-speed unit that currently goes into the Scorpio.