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Australia’s cheapest SUV could cop price rise due to new safety standards

ahmadchaudari@gmail.com July 3, 2025

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The new Mahindra XUV 3XO may lose the title of Australia’s most affordable SUV next year after it receives upgrades to meet more stringent 2026 protocols from safety authority ANCAP.

Speaking at the launch of the Mahindra XUV 3XO – a city-sized five-door compact SUV to rival the Chery Tiggo 4 and Mazda CX-3 – Mahindra head of international operations Sachin Arolkar said the new regulations would force the price of the XUV 3XO upwards. 

In doing, so the automaker risks losing the XUV 3XO’s title as Australia’s lowest-priced SUV.

The XUV 3XO is being launched this month without an ANCAP safety rating, and while it has a five-star crash test result from Indian safety authority Bharat NCAP, the automaker confirmed that the vehicle landing in showrooms from July 4 doesn’t meet the new 2026 ANCAP requirements.

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“We actually need to make a few adjustments to the vehicles to meet the new protocols,” said Mahindra Australia marketing boss James Halliwell during a media briefing. 

While he didn’t disclose the changes, when asked by CarExpert if meeting the new protocols will push up the price of the XUV 3XO, Mr Arolkar replied: “My guess is yes”.

“Obviously there’s going to be changes which require investments on the product – and I’m not completely on with it in terms of the changes from a material cost perspective – but just in terms of investments required, yes.”

“I’m not planning to elaborate on that – it’s still a work in progress; we’ll come back to you on that.”