NEW DELHI: Looking to cash in on the boom in auto sales, domestic utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra has lined up as many as seven new products in the passenger vehicle segment that will hit the roads over the next 15-18 months.
The list includes an all-new premium SUV from its own stable and two from the recently-acquired Korean company Ssangyong , apart from new versions of Logan, the mid-sized passenger car. The thrust in the SUV space comes at a time when environment minister Jairam Ramesh has termed their usage as “criminal” and even recommended that they be sent off the roads.
The company, which has lined up investments in excess of Rs 7,000 crore over 2011-13, will focus on the multi- and sports-utility space, that is its strength and core business area. “We are in the process of working out a number of new models, and these would hit the market in the next 15-18 months,” Rajesh Jejurikar, chief executive of Mahindra’s Automotive Division, told TOI. Jejurikar said the Indian automotive market, including the SUV segment, was growing at a fast clip.
“Our focus would clearly remain in the SUV space and a variety of factors make us confident on the segment that we feel will grow at double-digit rates over the next few years. While globally the ratio of SUVs and MPVs to cars is 40%, in India it is still at 15%. Now, with the rapid growth in demand, even if this goes up to 22-23 %, we are talking of sustained double-digit growth over the next couple of years.”
The new launches of the company will straddle across the price spectrum. At the bottom-end of the market, Mahindra plans to launch a lower-priced version of its MPV “Xylo”. The new vehicle will be a compact version of Xylo and the company is believed to be working on a price range of around Rs 5 lakh, which will be about 35-40 % cheaper than the existing version's price. This will be driven by lower excise duty as Mahindra plans to rework the vehicle to bring it in line with the government’s definition of a small car, which stipulates vehicle length under 4 meters and engine capacity under 1500cc for diesel and 1200cc for petrol. “We are planning variants of Xylo on the lower side,” Jejurikar confirmed but declined to disclose details.
The company may, however, begin with the introduction of Thar, a reworked version of the Commander that was pulled off the roads in early 2000. The retro-styled SUV, which is selling in the South African markets for the last two years, is expected to be launched soon.
The company is also giving final touches to a new global SUV that will be placed above the Scorpio. The new vehicle will be a crossover —a vehicle derived from a car platform while borrowing features from a SUV —and the company is investing around Rs 700-800 crore for the development of the vehicle that is likely to roll out during this financial year. But the company will make a bigger pitch at the upper-end of the SUV market with products of Ssangyong, a company that it hopes to acquire over the next few weeks.
ET
The list includes an all-new premium SUV from its own stable and two from the recently-acquired Korean company Ssangyong , apart from new versions of Logan, the mid-sized passenger car. The thrust in the SUV space comes at a time when environment minister Jairam Ramesh has termed their usage as “criminal” and even recommended that they be sent off the roads.
The company, which has lined up investments in excess of Rs 7,000 crore over 2011-13, will focus on the multi- and sports-utility space, that is its strength and core business area. “We are in the process of working out a number of new models, and these would hit the market in the next 15-18 months,” Rajesh Jejurikar, chief executive of Mahindra’s Automotive Division, told TOI. Jejurikar said the Indian automotive market, including the SUV segment, was growing at a fast clip.
“Our focus would clearly remain in the SUV space and a variety of factors make us confident on the segment that we feel will grow at double-digit rates over the next few years. While globally the ratio of SUVs and MPVs to cars is 40%, in India it is still at 15%. Now, with the rapid growth in demand, even if this goes up to 22-23 %, we are talking of sustained double-digit growth over the next couple of years.”
The new launches of the company will straddle across the price spectrum. At the bottom-end of the market, Mahindra plans to launch a lower-priced version of its MPV “Xylo”. The new vehicle will be a compact version of Xylo and the company is believed to be working on a price range of around Rs 5 lakh, which will be about 35-40 % cheaper than the existing version's price. This will be driven by lower excise duty as Mahindra plans to rework the vehicle to bring it in line with the government’s definition of a small car, which stipulates vehicle length under 4 meters and engine capacity under 1500cc for diesel and 1200cc for petrol. “We are planning variants of Xylo on the lower side,” Jejurikar confirmed but declined to disclose details.
The company may, however, begin with the introduction of Thar, a reworked version of the Commander that was pulled off the roads in early 2000. The retro-styled SUV, which is selling in the South African markets for the last two years, is expected to be launched soon.
The company is also giving final touches to a new global SUV that will be placed above the Scorpio. The new vehicle will be a crossover —a vehicle derived from a car platform while borrowing features from a SUV —and the company is investing around Rs 700-800 crore for the development of the vehicle that is likely to roll out during this financial year. But the company will make a bigger pitch at the upper-end of the SUV market with products of Ssangyong, a company that it hopes to acquire over the next few weeks.
ET
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