Mahindra Launch: Getting It Right

“It’s more important to get the launch right the first time rather than get hung up on a date. The launch in the U.S.A is a very significant step. It will give us only one chance.” – Pawan Goenka, President Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra


Nick Kurczewski interviewed Goenka last week for The New York Times. Although Goenka is still very non committal in his statements, he is “fairly confident” that the December launch date will happen. However, he does stress that the approach to the US market is far more important than the actual timing.

Kurczewski did confirm once again with Mahindra and US importer, Global Vehicles, that all EPA and crash tests are complete. All government approvals should be in place by the end of June, and production of the US-bound TR20 and TR40 pickups should begin in September of this year. This is a lot of “should”.

According to Goenka, Mahindra expects that the US market to grow again in 2011. This positive outlook is paired with Mahindra’s expectations of gaining 5-7% of the US market share with their compact diesel pickups. Mahindra still plans to introduce the Scorpio SUV (which shares it’s chassis with the TR20 and TR40) later in the year, and will eventually launch an all-new global luxury SUV currently code named W201 in the US.

Pricing for the TR20 and TR40 has still not been set. Goenka tells Kurczewski that a final retail price will not be established until the day before the trucks are launched. Curiously, this sounds as though dealers may not even know how much the trucks are going to sell for until after they actually have them on their lots.

Although this information does little to placate torch-carrying US Mahindra fans, an additional positive piece of news from the article is that Mahindra is actively working to establish a US assembly facility. Goenka indicates that Mahindra hopes to begin assembling vehicles in the United States six to eight months after sales begin.

The entire NYT article is HERE

Source: The New York Times

Don’t panic! Indian Domestic Car Prices Rising… USD $430.00

Reported in The Economic Times, Indian car and truck prices will increase by RS 20,000 (~USD $430 today) in the new year due to escalating raw material costs.

As reported on MP last week, it is unclear if the increases in raw material costs will be reflected in the suggested retail prices of US-bound Mahindra TR20 and TR40 pickup trucks. The stagnant Mahindra North America (MahindraNA.com) website has not officially listed retail pricing structure for the US product range. Pricing is pure speculation at this stage.

It is expected that Mahindra will launch the TR20 and TR40 diesel pickups in February of 2010.

The article with quotes from Pawan Goenka can be found: Here (pop-up warning!)

Mahindra “Feeling the Pressure” to Increase Vehicle Prices

Pawan Geonka, President of Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra, has inferred that increases in the cost of raw materials may force an increase in vehicle retail prices in the near future.

An article posted this morning by Moneycontrol.com quotes Goenka:

“We will try and not increase prices in the third quarter, while absorbing increases in the input costs. But if they go up as much as last year, we will have to pass it on to the consumers,”

This news could be yet another hurdle to clear for the US market TR20 and TR40 pickups expected to launch in February of 2010. Since no pricing has officially been set by Mahindra or the US importer, Global Vehicles, it’s not clear how the increase in input costs will trickle down to the Indian-built, US marketed pickup trucks.

Last week, Mahindra Planet posted a chart with completely speculative pricing hierarchy. We took the current Australian market prices, converted them to USD, and then added 25% in order to come up with a completely unscientific estimate of what American buyers might expect to pay for versions of the TR20 and TR40.

The complete Moneycontrol.com article can be found: Here

US Mahindra Pickup Pricing: Clues from Down Under

Speculation continues on Mahindra’s US pricing strategy for the TR20 and TR40 pickups launching in February 2010. An article posted earlier this week on Australia’s The Motor Report announced the introduction of the Pik-Up to the Western Australia market with AUD pricing structure.

The Motor Report article also put together a table including the recommended retail price (plus general sales tax) for various Pik-Up configurations. We’ve taken that table and included the USD conversion. Additionally, we included a column that tacks on 25%. Consider it accounting for the Chicken Tax, shipping, emissions testing, safety testing, or anything else you like. We thought it might appear more representative of actual US sticker prices.




Along with the announcement, the article quotes Mahindra Australia CEO, Claire Tynan on safety improvements made to the Aussie pickups. The comments and improvements appear to be in response to previous ANCAP crash test reports in which the Australian Mahindra pickups didn’t fair so well. As regular readers may recall, a YouTube video of the test was removed shortly after a Mahindra Planet posted a link to it. From the description in the article, the Australian pickups now appear to have all of the same safety equipment as US versions will get in February.

Source: TheMotorReport.com