Mahindra XUV500 Receives 'CarDekho Most Popular SUV 2012' Award

In the course of CarDekho People's Choice Awards distribution, Mahindra & Mahindra was accredited with the 'CarDekho Most Popular SUV, 2012 Award last week. This award is a significant one for M&M, since the winner of this award is determined based on the people’s choice. This award from CarDekho implies that M&M is extremely popular, at least, considering the opinion of those who search for automobile information on the Internet.  Three Mahindra  models were nominated in the 'Most Popular SUV' category. Mahindra XUV500 was voted as the ‘Most Popular SUV’, with a total of 30.99 per cent votes in favour.

CarDekho presented the trophy to Mr. Vivek Nayer, Chief Marketing Officer, Automotive Division, M&M. Along with presenting the award, CarDekho acknowledged Nayer’s vision of the Indian automotive industry and his plans to take remarkable steps to make significant contribution to the automobile market. Besides the fact that Mahindra XUV500 could do wonders enticing the Indian automotive crowd, Mr Nayer's dedication towards making this work can't be denied. He has shown his talent in understanding the needs of the Indian car buyers and finding ways to meet those needs. 

On the occasion, we also interviewed Mr. Nayer and his comments to our queries can be read as below: 

Q1) Well, the XUV500 has already been a winner, are you planning to expand its line up with any automatic version?

Ans) We haven’t said when the automatic is coming. It is a variant on our mind and we are happy with the response from the customers. We are happy with the response and we are happy we have built this brand, as we have built this brand from scratch. We are working on different innovation campaign on Internet, television etc. The XUV 500 has a good fan following on facebook with about 1 million followers and it’s like having your newspaper or magazine.

Q2) Ssangyong Rexton is doing pretty well. Are there any chances of additions in the near future? Like the Korando?

Ans) The Ssangyong Rexton is at the top end of our range, so at a price range of Rs 18-20lakhs (ex-showroom), as XUV 500 is much below. The Korean brands have a good reputation in India like Samsung and even Hyundai, this is one reason why we introduced the brand. The Ssangyong has been introduced in 35 cities so far. The Rexton is another good option for the Fortuner. People have liked the product and are impressed with the product’s quality. Speaking of the other models from the Ssangyong aren’t decided. We will take it step by step. At the moment, we are focusing on the Rexton and we haven’t even done any promotion for the SUV, except for the press launches. Soon, you shall see some TV commercials on it.

Q3) Are you planning to introduce new engines on Verito, which is currently using Renault sourced engines?

Ans) The Verito at the moment has the Renault engine, and we buy it from them. The informative is fairly competitive and we cannot disclose any plans on this.

Q4) When the Safari Storme is already there in the market, don't you think Scropio is getting a bit older? Any plans for facelifts? 

Ans) Scorpio and Bolero are two products that are going strength to strength. Every year both of them surprise us. A lot of royalty of customers, and mouth to mouth of good word spread. The best part of Mahindra’s success is that there is no cannibalization of products, unlike most of the other companies.

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