Mahindra’s World SUV is truly going global!
After setting feet in Australia, South Africa, Kenya, Italy, Brazil, the XUV500 will head to Latin America in September.
It is no surprise that the first market will be Chile because during the time of its pan Indian launch, Mahindra had confirmed that the Chile market was a priority. The Indian SUV czar will start the exports of the XUV500 from its Chakan plant to Latin America by September 2013.
M&M is also exploring other markets such as select countries in Africa - Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, Nigeria and other countries such as Russia, Spain, France, Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Slovakia.
The automaker has already developed the XUV500 in LHD avatar. A petrol variant along with an automatic version is being developed at Mahindra’s R&D facility. The company is also in the process of updating the XUV500 with a better braking package and an improved infotainment system.
To meet the domestic and export demand, the company is ramping up the production capacity at Chakan. Last June, the capacity was 4,000 units but right now it is 4,500 units per month.
Mahindra ended the 2012 year on a 2012 on a hugely successful note with three smash hit products – XUV500, Quanto and Rexton. In December 2012, M&M's total sales of passenger vehicles stood at 22,761 units as against 19,341 units in December 2011, a 17.68% growth.
[Source: Profit.ndtv.com]
