In a bid to raise its bar in the Indian auto market, India’s $12.5 billion Mahindra Group recently launched its global SUV, XUV500, designed and manufactured completely in-house at Mahindra’s world class Research & Development facility, the Mahindra Research Valley, located in Chennai. As a matter of fact, Chennai has emerged as an automotive hub in the past few years.
The XUV500 which was rolled-out in India and South Africa at the same time, has been directed towards achieving sheer success at global levels, subsequently spreading its wings worldwide.
The XUV500 got immense support from the Indian buyers as the class apart SUV received bookings for the next four months within ten days of its revelation in the market. As a result, fresh bookings of the XUV500 have been halted since 11th October, though for the time being. The move was put into action owing to the unprecedented response received by the SUV, which forced the production to lag behind the overflowing demand.
“The XUV500 represents Mahindra’s global ambitions as it seamlessly integrates world-class technology with the very best in Indian innovation. Its distinctive value proposition – bolstered by a new age digital strategy – has resulted in the XUV500 becoming an overnight sensation in its home country, India and I am sure this success will be replicated across the globe,” said Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra Group.
In addition to the fervour generated by XUV500 among enthusiasts, the bold SUV became the hot topic on the internet as well as across social media. The vehicle grabbed infinite popularity in these circles due to the planned digital strategy implied by Mahindra to shoot up the sales levels, following its launch. As a part of the strategy, the much awaited name of the vehicle was unveiled online, before limitless mystery and anticipation being created around the vehicle.
The step was followed by a one-of-its-kind online contest wherein viewers were invited to guess the price of the product, with the lucky participant getting the grand prize in the form of an XUV500. The contest intensified the excitement further, which finally pacified only after the launch.
The website dedicated to the product also accompanied numerous preview videos and the teaser TVC during the pre-launch phase, stimulating the enthusiasm of online enthusiasts all over India. As a result positivity blanketed the brand online, with the digital campaign transforming into a live webcast which received 1,50,000 views at the time of the launch of Mahindra’s first global SUV platform.
For the social media and digital phenomenon, things ended in style as it transformed the micro site into a very innovative and interactive animated video which allowed viewers to ‘unveil’ the XUV500 themselves online. They could further share it on the social media profiles for their friend circle to view.
The online strategy proved to be a blessing as Mahindra’s latest offering in the SUV space attained popularity not only in India but across the world. The contest that involved the guessing of the price of the XUV500 grabbed 1,15,000 entries, while the product received 4,50,000 ‘Likes’ on Facebook alone.
The XUV500 incorporates relevant inputs in styling and development using the feedback of various customers.
The Mahindra Group has been working hard to ensure that its customers are highly satisfied with the quality, performance, stability and control offered by its products.
