From mini SUV to sedan: Mahindra plans 5 hot launches

Mahindra & Mahindra, India's biggest sports utility vehicle maker, is preparing for launch of new products in the coming months.

Having grown at 22 per cent this financial year till date, with sales of nearly 200,000 units, it believes that the market will experience positive changes in vehicle demand towards the festive season.

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There are five models scheduled for launch, said Pawan Goenka, president of M&M's automotive and farm equipment sectors.

The first will be a mini van, based on the Maxximo platform. This hard-top vehicle will be launched in the first quarter of the next financial year, he said.

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M&M already has the passenger carrier version of the Maxximo in the market, capable of seating up to eight persons.

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This vehicle was launched last year by M&M and is used in the taxi segment, competing against the Tata Ace Magic.

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The new mini van is to be launched as a personal passenger car rather than a commercial van.

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The new Rexton SUV from the SsangYong (of Korea, M&M's subsidiary) stable and the next generation NXR under the Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle stable will also get launched in the second quarter of the next financial year, said Goenka.

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The company is presently setting up the assembly line for the Rexton at its Chakan (near Pune) facility, SsangYong's first such facility outside Korea.

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The Rexton is the first of two products (the other being the Korando C) that M&M plans to bring to India through the completely knocked down route.

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It aims to sell 500-600 units of the Rexton per month once the capacity is fully utilised.

SsangYong products will be sold through M&M sales outlets.

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The new Reva NXR car will be only the second follow-up model by the Bangalore-based company in the 11 years after it introduced the Reva, India's only all-electric car.

Mahindra bought 55 per cent stake in Reva and later renamed it Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles.

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Though the first-generation Reva did not find takers in huge numbers due to impractical attributes like a smaller range leading to repeated need to charge the batteries, limited top speed and seating capacity, the NXR has done away with all these limitations.

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The range, for instance, is 160km on a full charge, double that generated by the earlier generation Reva.

The new car can comfortably seat four adults and generate a top speed of a little over 100km/hr, compared to 80km/hr earlier.

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Perhaps the most awaited product after the XUV500 from M&M is the mini SUV that shall be launched some days before Diwali this year.

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Though the exact positioning is not known, it is expected to be priced at Rs 500,000-600,000.

India's top-selling SUV, the Scorpio, starts at Rs 706,000.

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The last of the launches will be the under-four metre version of the Verito sedan that will hit showrooms towards the end of the next financial year.

The new model will qualify for the excise duty benefit of 10 per cent, thereby allowing the manufacturer to price it closer to compact hatchbacks.

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The Verito is a rebranded Logan from Renault.

M&M had to do away with the Logan brand name months after the company bought Renault's stake in the joint venture Mahindra Renault (MRPL).

The compact Verito will compete against the new Maruti DZire and the Tata Indigo CS.

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"Then, we also have one or two models of trucks which will be launched during this year.

Those are variants on the current models," said Goenka.