With Mahindra South Africa celebrating the first six months of local vehicle production as well as its sales growth in the southern African market, a limited “Karoo” Edition of its popular Pik Up Double Cab is now being offered for less than N$300 000. Local salesmen yesterday confirmed to Woema that while the Karoo is not yet available locally, it will grace local showrooms with its presence in the near future.
The salesman who spoke to Woema explained that a price difference of between N$10 000 and N$15 000 is usually applicable on South African vehicle prices but was adamant that without a service plan, valued at about N$19 000, the Karoo will still be well under the N$300 000 mark.
The Karoo Edition will not only celebrate these Mahindra milestones with additional accessories, but it heralds the introduction of the S6 specification level in the double cab range. In doing so, it has enabled Mahindra to offer a double cab at N$299 999 for the 4x2 and N$329 999 for the 4x4 version.
In comparison, Mahindra’s luxury S10 version, which includes all the ‘bells and whistels’, retails locally for N$314 000 for the 2X4 version and N$345 000 for the 4x4 version. These prices are exclusive of the service plan.
“Over the past few years, the Pik Up has become one of Mahindra’s best-selling models, thanks to its combination of rugged and reliable mechanical underpinnings and a generous specification level. With the introduction of the S6 Double Cab Pick Up, we have amplified the Pik Up’s best qualities and made it available to more bakkie-buyers,” said Rajesh Gupta, CEO of Mahindra South Africa, in a recent statement.
The S6 Pik Up double cab has the same specification level as the S6 single-cab models. The list of luxury specifications includes front fog lamps, colour-coded bumpers, and mirrors with side mouldings, remote central locking, a USB-enabled audio system, ABS brakes with electronic brake-force distribution, two airbags, a differential lock and power windows.
“For the S6 Pik Up Karoo Limited Edition, we have added a tow bar, tonneau cover, a nudge bar and roll bar and Karoo decals. It has also added rain deflectors on the windows and wheel arch mouldings. The extras on the Karoo Edition tally up to over R28 000 of additional value, and this is added at no cost to the customer,” said Hans Greyling, Head of Sales for Mahindra South Africa.
The Karoo Edition gets its name from the very popular locally filmed Mahindra advertisement where an adventure seeker moves heaven and earth to find a farmer’s lost lamb. This tongue-in-cheek ad has won Mahindra an advertising Orchid and has proven very popular among local bakkie owners.
The new Mahindra Pik Up with S6 specification level retains the S10 model’s 2 179 cc mHawk common rail injection turbo diesel engine with 103 kW at 3 750 rpm and 320 Nm at a wide band between 1 500 rpm and 2 800 rpm. Like its S10 siblings, the Karoo Edition also has a 210 mm ground clearance and a load rating of up to 1 095 kg and it is fitted with a six-speed manual gearbox.
Mahindra has also opted to retain the S10 versions’ 5-year / 90 000 km service plan and 4-year / 120 000 km warranty on the new S6 specification level. Service intervals, after the initial 10 000 km lubrication service, is set at every 20 000 km.
The Mahindra Pik Up Karoo Edition is available immediately in limited numbers at Mahindra’s more than 60 dealers across South Africa and is expected to touch down in Namibia soon.