<p>Right from its inception in 2011 which doesn’t sound too long ago, this stylish SUV from Mahindra & Mahindra made headlines with its outlandish looks which were quite urban making it an ideal city friendly SUV. However, the SUV also possessed an off-road DNA which is inherited from the largest SUV maker family in the country. It has not been very long since Mahindra entered into this segment where there are hardly any players offering a proper 7 seater premium SUV at that price point but this home grown brand soon decided to give the XUV 500 a new makeover with some cosmetic changes and even a new transmission. The latest avatar of the XUV 500 appears more agile and sporty with its smoke black finished facade. The character lines on this SUV have now become more predominant which can be easily seen on the raised corners of the bonnet which leads to an all black front grille with chrome inserts. The cheetah inspired front grille now appears more aggressive with ‘claw’ shaped chrome and black inserts instead of vertical body colored lines seen earlier on the front grille. The entire front assembly appears new when observed carefully with a new static bending projector headlight cluster that houses a curved S shaped daytime running LED strip which blends perfectly with the front grille. Not just that, the fog lamp cluster now sits right at the top of the front bumper which is aligned to the headlamp unit and covered with silver accents that does offer a premium look. However, on the down side, the entire linked approach of feature seems to be a little overdone. On the side is where the XUV 500 retains its old identity with raised wheel arches, a curved hump on the B-Pillar and the cheetah inspired door handles as well. What’s new is a chrome strip that runs onto its shoulder which does offers a premium touch. The alloy wheels also gets a fresh look with 17 inch 10 spoke alloys that look quite stylish and big on the outside. Its cheetah design continues from the front onto the roof with sharp lines alongside the roof rails and even onto the rear bumper which makes it a little subjective on the looks department. The rear identity is the same again with vertically mounted tail lights that merge with the blackened C pillar and gives it quite a unique approach. The only new addition on the rear is a new chrome plate on the Mahindra logo which is done only to make this SUV more premium.

<br></p>