Tuesday, December 22, 2009

New VP of Sales and Marketing at Global Vehicles While Delays Remain Likely


Dan T. Najour has been named executive vice president of sales and marketing for Mahindra importer, Global Vehicles USA. Najour replaces Larry Daniel in the senior vice president position and brings with him 30 years of automotive sales experience to the GV-USA organization.

It is unclear what circumstances lead to the replacement of Daniel. However, GV-USA and Mahindra are said to still be working toward an eventual 2010 launch. Rumors lead us to believe that US-bound Mahindra TR20 and TR40 pickups will be manufactured in India beginning in January 2010 with a soft launch (key markets first) expected in February of 2010. However, some dealers are stating that they expect trucks in mid-May 2010.

NHTSA and EPA approval of the vehicles is still unknown. In a mid-November interview, GV-USA spokesman, Mike Geylin stated that NHTSA and EPA approval had not yet been given for the new-to-the-USA vehicles, but were expected sometime in the first quarter of 2010. Specific dates were not given.

The timing of several elements will have to fall perfectly into place for a February rollout. Details of the Mahindra dealer network throughout the US have yet to be announced or confirmed, US government vehicle approvals are unknown, and marketing has been non-existent. Hopefully it all comes together and we can get some first impressions of the TR pickups early this spring. It’s likely to be a very busy Holiday season for GV-USA.

Sources: PickupTrucks.com, MotorAge.com, MahindraTruckBlog, MahindraTruckForum

Special Thanks: Joe Callimachus and Pee Wee at MahindraTruckForum

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Message from CEO, Global Vehicles
http://www.mahindrana.com/videoceodec2009.php

Ocnj_Dave said...

(Preface: I really want to buy a TR20)

Wow. Finally some word. But they still don't get it. They send out a video to the DEALERS. Mahindra Planet is lucky to have some dealers that will forward it on.

What they also need to do is let the CUSTOMERS know what is going on. I am within a few weeks of switching to a Suzuki.

I'll wait until the middle of January and see if Mr. Anonymous releases a new video. Somehow I don't think that Mr. Perez's team is aware that the Internet customer expects instant communication. If not Suzuki can get my business.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't this make you wonder. They supposedly have a car all ready for testing, certification and sale. But they show an older, non US model Pik Up.

Doesn't anybody in Georgia have a friggin' camera to take a picture of the US version.

Unknown said...

Love to see this discussion! It’s great to see you all working through the issues and also, it’s great to see recommendations for testing. In the end, it’s what your actual users do and prefer that should be your biggest driver in making these decisions.
Great article and discussion!
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