Mahindra and Mahindra look forward to its first US-developed MPV

Mahindra and Mahindra is developing a new utility vehicle from its newly setup Mahindra North American Technical Centre based out at Detroit, US. The manufacturer will introduce this new vehicle in the growing multi purpose utility segment. According to some close industry sources, the vehicle will be launched in the year 2017.

Pawan Goenka, executive director and president (automotive) said, “We have put Europe R&D plans on hold, but in the US we are going ahead. We have hired 35 plus engineers and we are developing a whole new product there that will be launched in 2017. Its in the UV segment and will be sold in the global markets starting from India”.

In Indian auto sector, the manufacturer holds a market share of 42 per cent with annual figures standing at 5.25 lakh units. But now the home grown manufacturer is getting tough competition from the compact SUV segment governed mostly by Ford and Renault. It is expected that the all new fleet of compact SUVs will only come after a year gap and till then Mahindra and Mahindra will have their own product lined up in this aggressive market. The automaker, in order to enhance its market grasp will launch a facelift version of its highest selling SUV, Scorpio. 

Mr. Goenka looked positive on the company's performance as he believes that the sales will improve from the month of June. He said, “Sales in May went up overall, so looking at the industry its a positive sign. We expect further improvements in June and July. For us, we had the base effect in May, because our slowdown started only from June last year. So May was high base, and now we expect some positive signs from June.”

For the month of May, M&M's witnessed a fall of 21 per cent as the company retailed a total of 19,470 units. However, the overall passenger vehicle market grew about 3% to 2.07 lakh units. The company is all set to bring a facelift version of Scorpio followed by the next gen revamp of Bolero and a complete new vehicle code named as S101.

On the company's policy of upcoming new models, Dr. Goenka said, to stay competitive in the segment, the company will launch new products. He also said that in near future company will introduce three new vehicle platforms. Furthermore, they will upgrade the existing line-up to keep them competitive - 'we ensure that our existing products do not get cannibalized in a large manner by introduction of new product,' he added.

Source: FE