Mahindra agent considering what to say in face of ANCAP’s zero rating call.

BEING hit with the lowest safety score – in both crash protection and crash avoidance – ever awarded by a NZ Government-accredited test will not keep a recently-launched sports utility out of India from remaining on sale here.

This from a spokesman for the national distributor for Mahindra, which says it is considering how to respond further to the zero rating its Scorpio has received from the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme, an independent crash testing schedule that is part-funded by safety agencies here, including NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.

The Scorpio, and an MG sedan not sold here (though ANCAP says it is), the MG5, have become the second and third vehicles ever to be awarded the lowest rating in the 30-year history of the safety organisation – after the Mitsubishi Express van, a rebadged Renault Trafic, in 2021.

The Renault Zoe, another car sold in NZ to suffer a zero rating, but from ANCAP’s sister organisation, Euro NCAP, was immediately pulled from national sale after that May 2022 result. Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand kept Express in circulation, but found it hard to sell.

Russell Burling, who acts as a consultant to Mahindra NZ, and hosted journalists, this writer included, to a trip to India in August specifically to drive Scorpio ahead of its NZ release, was contacted for comment today.

Asked if there was thought about withdrawing the model, he said: “No.”

Further comment from Auckland-based company would likely come later, he said.

Scorpio is medium-large body-on-frame four-wheel-drive wagon, similar in size to a Toyota Fortuna, Ford Everest, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and LDV D90. The three derivatives selling for $44,990 to $50,990 puts it closer, price-wise, to a Toyota RAV4 and Subaru Forester.

Safety features include ABS with EBD, dual front airbags, and a reinforced body structure.

When media drove it in India, it was understood ANCAP testing had yet to be undertaken. Burling now says Mahindra knew then it had already been tested by ANCAP, that occuring in either April or May, and believed the result would be bad, but did not know the actual score.

The make recognised then that, without autonomous emergency braking and lane assistance, Scorpio would never get a five star rating from ANCAP, which also expects to see driver attention monitors and speed warnings. These are also lacking from the Scorpio.

Mahindra told the NZ media that lane assist and AEB would add in 2024. It yesterday said, via the distributor in Australia, that upgrades to crash-avoidance systems – but not crash structures – are in development.

In the meantime, it was confident the model was safe, saying it had achieved five stars in a domestic level test, GNCAP.

However, GNCAP sets a much lower level of parameters than ANCAP, whose latest test criteria introduced this year – and in force until 2025 – is seen as the most stringent in history. Scorpio’s test was to latest ANCAP criteria.

ANCAP said Scorpio's results in Safety Assist (0 percent) and Vulnerable Road User Protection (23 percent) would earn zero stars if there were no other test categories – while its Adult Occupant Protection score (44 percent) would be enough for one, and the Child Occupant Protection result (80 percent) eligible for five.

It is believed the Scorpio is the first vehicle in the history of ANCAP to score zero percent in one of the four test categories.

It lambasted what it calls the fundamental omission of safety features that have been commonplace in new cars for many years.

“Both brands have misjudged the safety expectations of today’s consumers,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.

Scorpio was shown to provide a mix of Good, Acceptable, Marginal, Weak and Poor protection for adult occupants in the frontal offset, full width frontal, side impact and oblique pole crash tests. A high risk of serious injury was recorded for the head, neck and chest of the rear female passenger in the full width frontal test with a penalty applied for high seatbelt loading.

In the side impact test, the driver’s seatbelt was observed to unlatch (tongue detached from buckle) during deployment of the seatbelt pre-tensioner immediately prior to impact. Whilst having no impact on the test score, ANCAP has reported this to the manufacturer for further examination.

Scorpio is a three-row vehicle with side curtain airbags fitted for first and second rows only. Top tether child restraint anchorages are not fitted in the third row, and this vehicle is therefore not suitable for transporting young children in these seating positions. A centre airbag between the two front seat occupants is not available.

Scorpio is offered only as a six-seat vehicle in Australia, but in New Zealand, a seven-seat variant is also sold. The latter provides a lap-only seatbelt in the centre seating position of the second row. ANCAP says lap-only belts have not been commonplace in new vehicles for more than a decade.

Hoorweg said Scorpio (and MG5) provided “… a stark reminder that not all cars offer the same level of safety – even when they’re brand new models.”

“Market competition is healthy and encouraged, however there is also a well-established expectation from Australian and New Zealand private consumers and fleet buyers that new cars entering our market offer the best levels of safety.

“With our independent test results now to hand, we hope to see significant improvements made to these models to have them more closely align with the safety credentials offered by their competitors.”

ANCAP is an independent safety advocate that has been in existence for three decades. It used to be supported by NZ Automobile Association, which acted as the organisation’s voice on this side of that Tasman, but that association ended several years ago, with no explanation from NZ AA.

MG NZ has confirmed the MG5 is not part of its national lineup.