The festival, which debuted last year, has quickly grown into a larger national event. This year’s edition followed a series of campus and cultural activations in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, where Mahindra hosted talent searches for musicians, artists and fashion designers ahead of the final showcase.

Hundreds of entries were received from across the country, with winners earning prize money and the chance to perform at the main event.

“The youthful vibrancy of the Rainbow Nation is something we experience every day across South Africa in its music, fashion, art and the remarkable creativity of its people,” Rajesh Gupta, CEO of Mahindra South Africa, says.

At the final event, Thando Micky was named the winner of the music competition, while Andile Cele won the fashion design category and Anda Mncayi was selected as the winning visual artist. Each category offered prize money of R30 000, with two runners up in the music category also receiving R10 000 each.

The festival programme included several collaborative performances featuring well known artists. One segment brought together Zoë Modiga with Mafikizolo, Kurt Darren and Claire Johnston, while other performances featured artists such as Blxckie, Maglera Doe Boy, Naledi Aphiwe, Karen Zoid, Nomfundo Moh, Focalistic and Daliwonga.

Beyond the performances, Mahindra also used the event to highlight the growing popularity of the XUV 3XO compact SUV.

The model was launched in South Africa in October 2024 and reached 10 000 sales in just over 500 days, making it the fastest vehicle in Mahindra’s local range to reach that milestone. In February alone, Mahindra sold 791 units of the model as part of 1 996 vehicles delivered across its range.

The XUV 3XO has played a key role in the company’s growth in South Africa, where Mahindra now has more than 100 dealers and over 100 000 customers.

“The XUV 3XO has welcomed a lot of new members to the Mahindra family,” Rajesh says.

“We want to make sure that we exceed their customer service expectations, just as the car exceeds their expectations for what is possible in a compact SUV.”

One of those new owners was Ntombhi Mkalipi from Pretoria, who drove away from the festival in a new XUV 3XO after winning Mahindra’s nationwide test drive campaign linked to Fusion Fest.

The car was displayed prominently during the event, reflecting the model’s growing popularity among South African buyers and its role in the brand’s recent sales momentum.