Design holds significant importance in the automotive industry, to the extent that it can directly influence sales. This is evident in various models ranging from the Suzuki Ritz to the Nissan Juke, where unconventional design elements have had a noticeable impact on their market performance. In the case of the 3XO, it appears to be a rather assertive facelift of the XUV 300, which could potentially affect its reception in the market.

The Mahindra XUV 3XO, launched on April 29, 2024, is an updated version of its predecessor, the XUV 300. The XUV 300, with its cheetah-inspired design, was well-received in the market. However, the XUV 3XO aims to leap forward with a host of new features and updates.

The XUV 3XO is designed to compete in the fiercely contested sub-4 meter segment. . The undisputed king in this segment so far has been the Tata Nexon. However, the XUV 3XO intends to challenge this dominance along with the dominance of Brezza and Venue.

The Mahindra XUV 3XO is a significant upgrade over its predecessor, the XUV 300. Here are some of the key updates:

Engine: The XUV 3XO comes with a 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine that produces 130PS/230Nm, which is more powerful than the XUV 300’s 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine that produces 81 kW power & 200 Nm.

Interior Design: The XUV 3XO features soft-touch material on the dashboard and door pads, providing a more premium feel compared to the XUV 300’s dual-tone black and beige dashboard.

Sunroof: The XUV 3XO is equipped with a panoramic sunroof, which is the largest in its segment1. This is an upgrade over the XUV 300’s electric sunroof.

Infotainment System: The XUV 3XO boasts a floating 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, compared to the XUV 300’s 7-inch infotainment system.

Safety Features: The XUV 3XO comes with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), which is a significant upgrade over the XUV 300’s safety features.

However, the exterior design of 3XO is getting questioned by a lot of auto influencers as well as the public. Apart from several YouTube reviews, comments all over social media on XUV 3XO's front facia are not in favor.

Mahindra's past similar attempt- Quanto to Nuvosport

The transition from the Mahindra XUV 300 to the XUV 3XO is quite similar to the transition from the Quanto to the Nuvosport. Despite the significant design overhaul and the addition of new features, the Nuvosport failed to make a significant impact in the market.

Although, Quanto was a chopped-off sub-4-meter version of Xylo and felt like a desperate attempt by Mahindra to get into the sub-4-meter game.

Mahindra did a great job by introducing TUV 300 in the market, a sub-4-meter ladder-on-frame RWD vehicle, that in true essence reflects the character of a SUV, however, the masses needed more peppy compact SUVs and Mahindra did respond to this demand with KUV 100 and XUV 300.

XUV 300, so far is one of the most selling Mahindra cars, but it failed to rule the compact SUV segment. Tata dominated this segment by Nexon and there is always a stiff battle between Nexon and Brezza. XUV 300 is mostly critisized for it's smaller bootspace.

The sub-4-meter competition became fierce with the introduction of new features like ADAS and XUV 300 started feeling outdated. To keep up with the pace, Mahindra recently launched XUV 3XO, which indeed is the updated version of XUV 300, however, it is drawing a lot of criticism around the front facia.

XUV 3XO design analysis

A lot of people have commented that the previous XUV 300 looked better than the 3XO as it had the cheetah element in it. The design did not feel imposed and retrofitted. However, 3XO feels like a forceful retrofit of front and rear facia to meet the current trend requirements of connected tail lamps, Bold DRLs, and bumper-centered headlamps.

From Cheetah to Grasshopper XUV 300's continuation of headlamps into foglamps through a vertical DRL was an outstanding cheetah design cue. This element blended well with the flow and continuity of the design. XUV 300 looked mature young sibling of XUV 500 that introduced the cheetah-inspired Mahindra design language.

3XO's front facia feels like a grasshopper and this might be a turnoff for many. While the design team might not have taken grasshopper as inspiration but there is a vague reseblance.

Remember Nissan Juke's first model?

Nissan Juke was inspired by a frog and sadly it did not create magic in terms of sales. Besides the look, there were more reasons for its failure, like poor fuel economy, but the design did impact the sales. Furthermore, there were some technical issues as well that were responsible for poor sales.

Although the Nissan Juke was not introduced in India, we can understand the impact of design on sales from the example of Ritz and A-star. Maruti Ritz came up with an unconventional boomerang-shaped back that looked odd. Although Ritz did fair in the market still Ignis needed to come to replace it. A-star met the safe fate and Celerio took over.

A similar design case happened in the mid-80s with Jeep when it introduced the Wrangler YJ with rectangular headlamps.

Its sales declined!

When Jeep re-introduced circular headlamps, the sales jumped!

Long story short, design does affect sales.

Why design affect sales

Design triggers primary emotions and biases inside the head. Humans tend to find meaningful patterns in objects. This phenomenon is called Pareidolia. The cheetah is powerful and speedy and a design inspired by the cheetah triggers the emotion of power and speed. Similarly, horses are powerful and an SUV like the Jeep Wrangler, which takes inspiration from horses in terms of design does signify the all-terrain capabilities.

Bugs and Beetles are cute peppy insects. These mini organisms represent the characteristics of the VW Bug and VW Beetle.

Pandas are fluffy cute little carefree animals. We have a Fiat Panda that has the same carefree persona.

Cars are the extension of someone's personality and any car that looks odd and is inspired by something that is usually taken in negative connotations might end up backfiring the sales.

What Mahindra could do with 3XO's design

It is understandable that to slash the cost of production, usually minor plastic cosmetic changes are done in a car to produce a facelift. This change is then blended with the introduction of new colors, trims, alloy wheels, and so on. At most, slight fender panel alterations are done and the tailgate panel witnesses some tweaks.

Mahindra Scorpio Classic is a classic example of how Mahindra managed to retain almost the same design since 2002. Bolero's design was taken from Mahindra Armada, a car from the early 90s and it continues today.

However, there was always a sync in the design of the car. the design looked balanced. XUV 300 too had a balanced design, but 3XO feels awkward.

Probably Mahindra has tried to be on the same page with the trend of bumper-mounted headlights. However, the urge to take DRL cues from XUV 700 did not let the bonnet's design blend well with headlights. It seems like the headlight is forcefully slashed by half. Further, if we look at 3XO from the side, we notice that the headlight's silhouettes are not in sync with the DRLs.

The front facia does not sync well with the side facia and feels disconnected.

The rear part has been designed comparatively well.

Overall, it does feel like there is a forceful addition of trendy design elements to the XUV 300. It could have been incorporated in a much better manner.

Design is subjective and some people might like this design, however, this is after a long time that a car has been criticized for its front facia and people are divided on its look.

For Fun: How AI imagines XUV 300