Ramkripa Ananthan did her mechanical engineering from BITS, Pilani, and is a graduate from IDC, IIT-B. She has been working with Mahindra & Mahindra for the last 21 years and has been involved with their other SUVs such as the TUV 300, XUV 500 and KUV 100. At the launch of the Mahindra Marazzo, Ananthan speaks to THE WEEK about Mahindra's newly launched vehicle. Edited excerpts:
Could you tell us about the stages that the Mahindra Marazzo went through in terms of design?
This was part of a much larger project. We were working on four projects, of which this was the lead product. The common identity was coming out as a certain inspiration, which was derived from animals, but which would give a certain flow. So the body side feature line—the C—that gives a certain strength, dynamism and fluid is a 'follow-me' line—it shows your eye movement. So, that was the crease that was holding all the portfolios together and was the beginning.
Ramkripa Ananthan
The sketches come first and we form a volume model, just to get the proportions and at that stage we realised that the exciting bit was that it resembled a shark. So things like the tail lamp and the roofline evolved as if it resembled a shark as an inspiration. At that point we weren't sure if we’d promote it as a shark. But we did build in these cues as a shark fin in the beginning between the headlamp and the grille and of course, the shark tail; at the end of the shoulder you can see a shark fin.
We’ve worked with Pininfarina through the whole portfolio. We shortlist sketches and research. Even at the sketch stage, we research with customers and then we go on to the models. We made two models. We make a clay model, and test it with consumers. Then we do what we call a “see-through”, still a prototype. We then test the complete interiors and the see-through with customers.
Marazzo rear image
Pininfarina was involved till the design stage. It is very typical in our industry, I don’t know whether people talk about it, but the final one has influences of both the studios. There were features that came in from one and the other and of course, hopefully harmoniously integrated, so it holds together as one. But since it starts with the same brief, it does evolve in one direction and not in different ways.
How much role has the engine aspect played in designing the front?
The engine is a very important aspect because what we work on first is the proportions. There was a lot of focus on getting the chassis, the floor and the step-in down. There was a lot of attention by the Mahindra Automotive North America (MANA) team to get that. The rear axle is a dead axle because it’s a front wheel drive so you can see the rake of the roof; you can see that it rakes back, drops as it goes back, with absolutely no compromise on the headroom inside. So it’s a really streamlined shape and we could get that only because of the engine and the occupant layout architecture which really enabled this fall.
Marazzo's infotainment system
The size of the seats is very impressive.
On the seats we had experts, incidentally from the US, from our supplier who worked on great detail. They call it contour mapping—do the comfort analysis and sculpt the seat, so that it is contoured perfectly for comfort. Of course, the craftsmanship experts did a commendable job, so that the material stretches yet looks right with the appropriate stitching. Design has to work very closely with the engineering and supplier team so that it looks great, yet is really comfortable.
Tell us about the choice of colours because they’re refreshingly different.
Colours are a sore point for me. I think Indians just like white and silver, so you have a flood of white and silver cars on the road. This is a connected world, customers want a connected experience, it’s all about being online, connected. So, premium tech was the thing, that’s how the purple lighting, the technical grain topper pad, and the high contrast between the topper pad and the light grey on the seats came up. When we did the smoothboard, all the colours that were coming out, they were not youthful or sporty or bright but they had to have a tech feel. So, the three new colours that we worked on which was the blue, the red and the purple all came out of the smoothboard which had deeper hues with blue undertones. If you go close and see the metallic element in it, it has a particular sheen, which we feel is electric, more tech.
Marazzo roof AC
How did the deep well on the dashboard come about and what’s the purpose?
The intent was to have a closed bin, but we realised that in Mumbai you pay toll. You pick up the toll ticket and you need some place to keep it. So we said from a purely insight-driven thing that it should be open, you should be able to take the ticket and put it somewhere. It has to be deep because you don’t want it flying out. We sort of really sculpted to get as much depth out there, and from sitting in the car it is not visible. But from a design perspective, it is fine that it is not closed. Mainly for ticket holding.
It’s nice to see a lot of glass area on the Marazzo…
At the heart of all our vehicles is the language. The exterior is all about stance and proportions; it has to be muscular, look like it is capable, robust and not look weak. So there are a whole series of things that we take care of when we build the main car before we start sculpting it for shape. Two of the things that we try to take care in all our vehicles are we try to give a glass volume that comes out of command seat. We feel that what you get when you buy a Mahindra vehicle is command seating. You will feel in command of your vehicle, of the road. You will not feel that you will get hit by somebody, so your overall visibility will be very good. So, what happens is, it drives the beltline down because you want to have all-around visibility. We have to strike a good balance between getting a beltline that gives you that immediate visibility. We have taken care to give that command seat that is to drive the beltline low so that glass volume is sufficient and at the same time, not look out of trend. Glass volume also means cooling efficiency drops.
