The Hindu Business Line published an (undated) interview with Vivek Nayer, Senior Vice President of Marketing (Automotive) Mahindra & Mahindra, this morning.
When questioned on what products will be sold in the US and what the strategy was, Nayer comes off as having lots of confidence, but with little clue about the US market and Mahindra’s launch here.
“The US launch will be by the end of the year. Initially, it will be the Scorpio pick-up which is called the Mahindra pick-up there. Later, the SUV (sports utility vehicle). Compared to the fuel guzzlers available there, ours is not one. Besides, ours is a medium SUV compared with their big SUVs. Secondly, we have the advantage of a diesel product. Diesel is catching on because diesel technology has progressed a lot. The torque is better in a diesel vehicle. So, depending on the application, we are pretty sure that we will create our own niche out there.” – Vivek Nayer, Senior Vice President of Marketing (Automotive) Mahindra & Mahindra
Curiously, Nayer tells the interviewer that the pickup will be called Mahindra Pick-Up in the US, not TR20 and TR40 as many Americans have become familiar with. This also corresponds with Mahindra’s failure to formally register the trademark names Mahindra TR20 and Mahindra TR40 with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Apparently Nayer is also unaware that several other well-established manufacturers do compete in the mid-size pickup and SUV categories in the United States. He seems to believe that the only vehicles in the market are fuel guzzling, big SUVs. Mahindra’s VP of Marketing may be in for a wake up call when the vehicles eventually launch here.
Note again that this is an undated interview from this Indian source. For the entire interview, click here: We are sure we will create our own niche in the US: Mahindra
3 comments:
Mr Winfield, you should not get your information from Indian sources; they are very unreliable. Indians have really weird notions of what the rest of the world is like; mostly ignorant, misinformed, or both.
As an Indian, I am ashamed to say that these are the same Indians who talk as if they have bases on the moon when all the did was make a flyby on a dingy spacecraft (something pretty much any of the ten dozen other developing nations could do if they were also ready to throw away their measly budget on frivolous ego stroking ventures).
Mahindra was hoping for cheap publicity, mostly in their home market, using "we are going to sell in the US" as a ploy (they even have mph on scorpios sold there; they don't save anything by reusing a panel like that, otherwise lots of other car makers in India would be doing the same).
Any real plans for selling anything other than tractors in the US is really long term.
I’ve stopped guessing as to when the Mahindra pickups will come to the US. However, what I am confident about is that they’re coming. By now multiple Mahindra managers have said it. What I’m also sure about is that these trucks have all the specs to make it here. I can’t tell you how many people I have spoken to that say: “Wow, a midsize truck with the payload of a full size truck”, or “Finally a diesel pickup that will get somewhere around 30MPG”.
So I’m content to wait, and in the meantime continue to drive my old Ranger (which is by the way very similar to the NEW Ranger!!!) until Mahindra gets here.
Know what, he's got a point. Let's stop this negativity shall we? Don't we all think positive?
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