Official: W201 is Mahindra XUV500, December Launch Expected

Mahindra announced today that its long anticipated global SUV will be called the XUV500 (according to the press release, pronounced XUV ‘5 double Oh’), and launch this December in India and select global markets.

Mahindra Planet has detailed what is known of the new SUV on several occasions, and it appears that not much has changed.  The XUV500 will be positioned above all other current Mahindra products and target global competitors like Toyota, Mitsubishi, GM, and Ford.

The XUV500 will be a unitized (monocoque or unibody) design with a front transverse diesel engine layout and likely all-wheel-drive and front-wheel-drive versions available.  The XUV500 presents somewhat of a landmark for Mahindra, as it is the first complete vehicle to be designed and developed in-house, and represents a significant departure from the less refined, rugged trucks they currently build.

While the XUV500 was designed for world markets (including the US), it is likely that they will focus on utilizing existing Ssangyong distribution networks and initially focus on markets that Mahindra already has a presence in (like Africa).  However, don’t hold your breath for the XUV500 or other Mahindra products in the US any time soon.

Click HERE for the press release (which doubles as a great drinking game if you down a shot every time they mention the word “truly”).

Source: Mahindra, The Wall Street Journal, Burn Your Fuel

Ouch: Americans More Willing to Buy Chinese Cars than Indian Cars

Remember the Hyundai Excel?  Surely Hyundai hopes that you have long forgotten that sad first chapter of their US success story.  It’s taken over twenty years of hard work and aggressive marketing for the Korean brand to gain general acceptance here.

Results from GfK Automotive’s Barometer of Automotive Awareness and Imagery Study shows that only 38% of surveyed Americans would consider buying a Chinese car.  Surprisingly (to Mahindra Planet anyway) only 30% would consider buying an Indian car.

It’s likely that most Americans do not realize that China and India already have an automotive presence in the US through acquired brands (China has Volvo owned by Geely and India has Jaguar and Land Rover owned by Tata).  And it is easy to forget that the mighty Japanese brands once faced similar challenges when they first arrived on US shores decades ago.

Clearly, the Mahindra brand would face many challenges beyond their damaged credibility among US auto enthusiasts.  Poor quality or customer service would force them into an even harder uphill battle.

Entering the US with Korean brand, Ssangyong, certainly has to look more appealing to Mahindra these days.  Thanks in part, to the Hyundai Excel.

Source: Economic Times

Fear and Loathing in Alpharetta

 

That deafening silence you hear is the sound of Mahindra and Global Vehicles making preparations for their upcoming arbitration in August.  The fate of some 350 franchised Mahindra dealers and the presence of Mahindra trucks in the US hang in the balance.  Maybe no news is good news, but then again, maybe some of the enthusiasm built up over the last 4 years has finally begun to fade.

Even a diehard Mahindrista has to admit that the chance of seeing Mahindra pickups on US roads in the near future is slim.  Publicly, Mahindra only speaks of their Ssangyong product line making it to America.  As time rolls on, more manufacturers appear to be closing in on the niche Mahindra intended to own just a few years ago.  Ford’s EcoBoost F-150, the global Chevy Colorado, Nissan’s development partnership with Cummins, a new compact Ram pickup, and continued talk of a Jeep pickup all begin to overlap the mid-size, high capacity, fuel-efficient, diesel pickup concept Mahindra has touted but failed to deliver.

Maybe Mahindra could change their angle of attack, and bring in a truly bare-bones, bargain-basement heavy duty pickup on the cheap.  There still may be an opportunity here for that.  Of course, they now have the additional task of repairing their reputation.  

Maybe Mahindra has served its intended purpose.  Mahindra has become a case study in how not to launch a vehicle in the US.  Lessons learned should enable them to make a better go at successfully launching Ssangyong here.  Has the wave has crested, retreated, or only begun to push ashore? We’ll find out in August...

“And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave ....
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark —that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.” Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Sources: MP, PickupTrucks.com, and Wikipedia as hyperlinked