Might a Mahindra SUV have the goods to play in the United States?

Unless you’ve been living under an especially virulent rock for the last few months, it’ll not have escaped your attention that the Mahindra company has brought its ROXOR off-roader to our country, marketing the little scamp as an alternative to the side-by-side rigs from Polaris and others. Lawyers for Jeep have had plenty to say about its styling, but that’s a post for another day.

With an established presence, it may not be long before the company tries its hand at selling SUVs and crossovers to an American buying public with a seemingly insatiable thirst for those types of vehicles. After all, the brand now has a measure of name recognition in this country, not to mention a burgeoning distribution network.

Back home in India, Mahindra has just introduced its Altura G4 SUV, a machine set to compete in the body-on-frame, seven seater luxury SUV segment. Does that type of vehicle sound familiar? Yeah, it does to us, too.

The familiar two-box shape of the Altura wouldn’t look out of place in any school drop-off lane or snow-covered parking lot at the ski hill. Styling is always a subjective measure but the Altura is not an offensive machine. That D-pillar looks huge, though. Mahindra touts LED lighting at both the front and back, along with jazzy 18-inch alloys.

Looking at the Altura’s interior, we find a rig not unlike what’s being offered from any number of manufacturers in this segment. Around-View camera system, Apple CarPlay, touchscreen infotainment – it’s all present. There’s the small matter of the steering wheel being on the wrong side, but companies have overcome that hurdle in the past while chasing profits in North America.

Powertrains are almost always the sticking point when companies try to translate a global offering to our market (ahem *Ranger Raptor* ahem) and so it would be here as well. A diminuitive 2.2-liter four banger making fewer than 200 horsepower resides under the hood, making for a non-starter in the minds of most shoppers in this country. Mahindra could conceivably license a mill from some other company, a concept not without merit since the Altura is already endowed with a 7-speed automatic from Mercedes.

In terms of size, the Mahindra is roughly the same height and width as a 2018 Ford Explorer. It is smaller in all dimensions than the current king of BoF rigs, the Tahoe, measuring about a foot less in length on a four-inch shorter wheelbase. The Altura splits the Ford and Chevy’s height, coming in at 72.6 inches.

How about it readers? Would you consider a body-on-frame SUV from Mahindra? Sound off below.