Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra on Saturday said he will gift a Mahindra XUV700 to Neeraj Chopra, India’s only Olympian to bag a gold medal for the first time since 2008.
An avid Twitter user, Mahindra lauded the efforts of Chopra by comparing him to the Amarendra Baahubali character played by actor Prabhas in the 2015 epic fantasy action movie Baahubali.
“We’re all in your army, Baahubali,” the businessman wrote captioning a snapshot of Chopra throwing his bullion-winning 87.58-metre javelin along with a screenshot of Prabhas pulling off a similar feat on-screen in one of the scenes of the SS Rajamouli-directed movie.
One such Twitter user suggested that Mahindra gift the Olympian the soon-to-be-unveiled sports utility vehicle for the house of Mahindra. Heeding to the suggestion, the Mahindra & Mahindra boss said, “Yes indeed. It will be my personal privilege & honour to gift our Golden Athlete an XUV 700”.
Mahindra also tagged Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director- Auto and Farm Sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd and Veejay Nakra – Chief Executive Officer – Mahindra & Mahindra and asked them to keep one vehicle ready for the Olympian.
Chopra has achieved what no Indian could since the year 1900 — to win an Olympics athletics medal. Norman Pritchad won two silver medals, representing India in the Paris Olympics 1900 in the 200-metre dash and 200-metre hurdles.
The 23-year-old is one of two Indians ever to win a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Chopra’s father is a farmer in Haryana’s Khandra Village in Haryana. This is India’s seventh medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 so far and the first gold. With the latest performance, India topped its second-best haul of 6 medals in the 2012 London Olympics.
Mahindra XUV700 is expected to be revealed this month. The company is likely to unveil the XUV700 during this event (probably on 15 August) while the launch of the SUV is expected to take place later.
Variants of Mahindra XUV700 are expected to pack a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine or a 2.2-litre diesel engine. The petrol motor will be the same 2.0-litre mStallion engine that also powers the new Mahindra Thar, but Mahindra is expected to tune it so as to develop more power and better performance than it does on the Thar SUV.
