Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra today said it has closed the second phase of

RELATED ARTICLES Mahindra sets up first exclusive Destination Maternity store M&M gears up to launch XUV500 in Italy, Australia, Chile Mahindra to market SsanYong cars in South Africa

booking for its latest sports utility vehicle XUV500 and has received over 25,000 orders in a period of 10 days.

The company will conduct a draw of the orders to deliver the vehicle to 7,200 customers.

In a statement, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) said it has received over 25,000 booking applications from customers during the second phase of bookings for its XUV500 that were open for 10 days from January 25 to February 3, 2012.

"As a customer-centric measure and to ensure a fair and transparent allotment, Mahindra will undertake an XUV500 draw since the booking applications have exceeded 7,200 in the second phase," it added.

The bookings were re-opened only in 19 cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh Ludhiana, Jallandhar, Patiala and Kochi.

The company further said the draw process will be validated by the services firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt Ltd.

Last month, M&M had said it was looking to increase production of the XUV500 to about 3,000 units per month in the next 2-3 months compared to about 2,500 units in December 2011 because of strong demand.

The company had first suspended bookings last year in October after launching the vehicle on September 29, as four months production of over 8,000 units was sold out within just 10 days.

M&M has hiked prices of XUV500 in the beginning of this year with its three variants becoming dearer by Rs 30,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 55,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi) respectively.

The SUV was launched at introductory prices ranging between Rs 10.8 and 11.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).