Mahindra gears up to take on foreign SUVs

  • Jun 10, 2013
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  • By Tnn
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Mahindra plans to launch at least 3 new SUVs by 2015-16 including a compact SUV and a refreshed Scorpio

Mahindra Scorpio

Domestic SUV heavyweight Mahindra & Mahindra is gearing up to fight it out against multi-national challengers who look to take on its dominance in the Indian market. The Indian auto major is set to unleash an SUV blitzkrieg and plans to drive in at least three all-new off-roaders by 2015-16, apart from bringing in major refreshments on existing products, including old warhorse Scorpio.

The push from India's biggest SUV/UV maker comes at a time when it stares at one of its biggest challenges in the market in view of the growing competition from new products like Renault Duster, Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and Ford Eco Sport, and this is expected to only get stiffer as Toyota, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Nissan and Maruti launch new products. 

Pawan Goenka, president of M&M's automotive division, told TOI here that the company is working on a slew of new vehicles, some with Korean subsidiary Ssangyong, as it wants to modernize and broaden offerings in the market. The new line-up will stem from two fresh platforms that the group is developing (one each by M&M and Ssangyong). 

The company's idea is to roll out more of crossovers, which are broadly vehicles built on a car platform but carrying the design and features of an SUV. Crossovers drive and handle similar to a car and unlike the body-on-frame structure of traditional SUVs, they have a unibody construction. 

Interestingly, the company is working on the new vehicles as part of its push to produce more "compact vehicles", which will be products under four meters in length and having engine capacity under 1500cc in diesel and under 1200cc in petrol. This would ensure that the company manages to get lower excise duty on these vehicles, which will help keep their prices competitive. 

"We will have more smaller vehicles, more compact vehicles," Goenka said, adding that the focus would be on the company's traditional stronghold of SUVs and UVs. Sources, however, said the new platforms will also be used for bringing out compact cars where the company now only has a lone product in the Vibe, a vehicle carved out of its failed JV with French carmaker Renault. Goenka refused to confirm the speculation on small cars, but did not deny it also.

Mahindra Quanto

With increasing focus of global and domestic automakers on the fast-growing Indian SUV market, including compact off-roaders, Mahindra is fully aware of the need to refurbish its portfolio with newer contemporary products. As part of this initiative, the company is also looking at setting up a new engineering and design centre in Europe, which will help it develop more stylish and modern products that carry a global appeal. 

Goenka said one of the new platforms will be a joint initiative between M&M and Ssangyong, and this will lead to new products for both the companies. This new platform should start churning out vehicles towards 2015-16 fiscal, which will include a compact SUV that will be placed under the Scorpio and thus priced comfortably under the Rs 10-lakh mark. 

The other product that the Indian company will get is from a new platform which Ssangyong is developing - a new SUV, currently codenamed X100. This should also be out in the next two years. Apart from this, Mahindra also has plans to bring out a new compact sub-four meter SUV to stand along the Quanto, which was carved out of the Xylo MPV and has increasingly been facing a tough time in the market. 

Refreshments to the Scorpio are on the anvil, and the company feels that the product has relevance in the market considering that it was the highest-selling SUV recently. 

Overall, the line-up in the SUV segment is about to get fatter as new products are planned by Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan and Renault in the coming years. 

Also read: Mahindra Verito Vibe: First Drive

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