Mahindras SUV launch in US by Jan 2009
Mahindra and Mahindra of India, a successful manufacturer of pickup trucks, SUVs, tractors and people-carriers in India, is finalising plans for entry into the United States’ SUV market by taking its sports utility vehicles there.
By January 2009, Mahindra the company will sell SUVs in addition to the medium to high powered tractors it already sells in the North American market.
Mahindra Scorpio SUV for US
Mahindra has not decided on the exact launch date for its SUVs in the US, but it is rumoured that the vehicles will debut by January next.
America is the largest automobile market in the world with annual sales of 13 million units. It is expected that the Mahindras’ US foray would have be significant due to the growing importance of small and fuel-efficient cars among American car buyers.
Mahindra’s top selling SUV in India is the Mahindra Scorpio. This SUV is available in several versions, including single and dual cab pickup versions. The engines available on the Scorpio in India are not the smoothest running or the most powerful. But it is unlikely Mahindra would tackle the US markets with the same engines and transmissions which are adequate for India.
Mahindra group’s Vice-Chairman, Anand Mahindra, told reporters that “we are planning to launch our commercial vehicles in the United States but we are not ready yet to share the exact date of launch.” he clarified that Mahindra diesel SUVs have cleared the US tests and fulfilled the stringent emission norms.
Another interesting take Mahindra would have for the US market is that its SUVs are fuel efficient. For one, the Scorpios they would export would be diesel, and they are not as big, or as powerful as any of the run of the mill SUVs in the US. So, the strategy would be to sell them as fuel efficient vehicles. Would that work? We will have to wait and see if recession-hit America would prefer to go for cheap SUVs from India.
One thing going for Mahindra in the US would be ruggedness. The Mahindra Scorpio SUV and ickup trucks may not be paragons of perfection and sophistication, but they can take a lot of hammering. After the initial hesitation, it is likely that they might develop a reputation for being sutrdy workhorses.
M&M has been consciously working on fuel-efficiency and environmental safety aspects even before the company planned its foray into the US market, according to top officials..
With US foray already been lined up, M&M has appointed Global Vehicles as its distributor for SUVs in the US. This had happened way back in 2006 itself as the company had earlier planned to make its US presence with the SUVs by 2007. Reports said that the company was then forced to postpone the launch as Chrysler had threatened to sue M&M for copying the front grill from its Jeep brand.