Mahindra may be king of the hill when it comes to SUVs in India with their highly versatile portfolio starting from the agrarian Mahindra Bolero Pick up to highly polished XUV500 but the very hungry king back in November 2010, the Indian SUV Kingpin bought 70% stake in Korean SUV maker Ssangyong for a massive Rs 2,100 crore.
The Ssangyong Rexton will be launched in the next six months followed by the Korando C.
Now that the acquisition in complete, M&M has already started work on products that will be used by both Mahindra and Ssangyong. Both companies are working on two platforms – one in India and another in Korea. The two platforms will be housing SUV bodies as that is the core competency of both the companies. The first product should be out by 2015.
SMC’s portfolio consists of a luxury sedan, four SUVs and a multipurpose vehicle. Rexton, an SMC product, will be launched in India in the next six months followed by Korando C. M&M is setting up an assembly line at its plant in Chakan, Pune, to roll out SMC products. SMC products will be marketed in India through M&M’s existing retail outlets.
SMC is keen on expanding in emerging markets, like India, Russia and China. As a result, M&M is also considering commencing assembly operations for SMC products in Brazil, Russia and China in two years.
Generally here at IAB, we cover on stories pertinent to Indian context. Hence, the whole SAAB debacle was not at all covered by us. But some interesting development has made us turn our heads and take notice. Mahindra&Mahindra is now in private talks with the Swedish manufacturer to buy some parts of the company according to reports in the media.
Essentially, General Motors, the once big daddy of the automotive world, went bankrupt as soon as the recession struck United States. The company filed for bankruptcy and had to re-organize itself to come out of the red. As part of the re-organization plans, several brands owned by the company such as Hummer and Saab were to be hived off.
Saab had several offers from Chinese companies such as Youngman and Pang Da, but repeated cash flow delays and vetos from GM squashed that deal before it could get off of the ground. Finally, on 19th December SAAB filed for bankruptcy and has been in the process of selling off its business.
However, there is a twist to the story. Mahindra is not entirely interested in SAAB, but only interested in some parts of it. Saab’s most desirable assets would be its manufacturing capabilities, tooling and in-house technology.
With high growth in the South East Asian markets such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, M&M has reportedly decided to establish an assembly plant in one of those countries. According to reports, the assembly plant is likely to offer products ranging from M&M’s utility vehicles to pick-ups, Ssangyong SUVs, Mahindra tractors, along with products from Chinese tractor joint ventures Jiangling & Yeuda Tractors.
Currently, M&M exports vehicles to that region and is aiming to expand to other markets in ASEAN countries.
SEA markets are important, big markets for M&M’s overseas growth and for expanding our global presence. We are at present in talks with various parties and evaluating the various possibilities for setting up base with appropriate business model.
The market size for utility vehicles and pick-ups in ASEAN markets is more than 700,000 units per annum and for tractors is more than 55,000 units. Mahindra, a specialist in both of them, cannot afford to let this opportunity walk by.
The new plant is likely to come up in next couple of years.
Ssangyong Motors has recorded the highest monthly sales in its 25 year history. This comes on the back of the best H1 sales since 2007.
The Ssangyong Business Group acquired an automotive business called Dong-A Motor in 1986 and changed its name to Ssangyong Motors. For about 23 years, the company maintained a low key image, till things got nasty after a series of labor strikes and bankruptcy crumpled the company. The tainted image outposed some of the oddball designs it has cooked up over the last few years.
In 2010, Mahindra acquired 70% stake in the company and things started falling in place.
Last month Ssangyong sold 10,763 cars of which 3,506 cars were sold in Korea while the remaining 7,257 cars were exported. The figure represents a growth of 46% over the same period in 2010.
The Korando C is a hot cake and demand from Russia and Latin America have catapulted overseas shipment by 57% compared to last year. A 28% growth in the domestic market is credited to a stronger dealer network.
Ssangyong plans to provide potential customers with a first-hand experience of its products signifying the high confidence level it has on them. It also plans to expand its portfolio with more utility vehicles and variants of its existing range.
With a commercial vehicle wing rich in creativity and products, Mahindra has launched yet another vehicle that will make you sit up and take notice – a dual cab Genio which is aimed at small and medium entrepreneurs. We thought the dual cab Genio was just a Genio with rear seats. Turns out that’s just the beginning.
Priced at Rs. 5.46 lakh (ex-showroom Karnataka, BS3) for the base version the 1,100 kg payload Genio dual cab has features like 2 din Music System, Air conditioner, Power Windows, central locking, keyless entry, door trims for housing bottles and magazines and immobilizer that commercial vehicles are denied of.
Radial tubeless tyres, brake force distribution, Oil change interval of 20,000 km, ELR seat belts and electronic headlamp leveling device are some other interesting and thoughtful features on the pickup.
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Dr Pawan Goenka, President, Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) has been named as Ssangyong Motor Company’s new Chairman. M&M has finished all formalities related to the Ssangyong’ acquisition. Ssangyong’s focus lies in building a formidable product lineup along with strong human resources. Mahindra is ready to pump in fresh funds to achieve these near term objectives. The following press release discusses the shuffle in the [ Read More ]
Just seconds ago Mahindra announced the prices of the much awaited Thar jeep. The launch will be organized in a phase manner. Mahindra will introduce the vehicle in 5 cities first (Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Mangalore and Jaipur) by end-December and pan India by the end of January 2011. The following are the vehicle’s prices -
5.99 lakh rupees (ex-showroom Delhi) for the CRDe engine with 4WD (BS4)
4.47 lakh rupees (ex showroom-Jaipur) for the 2WD version with the DI engine (BS3)
The DI variant will be manufactured at the Kandivali facility while the CRDe model will be manufactured at Nashik. There’s a souped up Thar from Mahindra customs on display.
Mahindra Thar is available in four colors – Fiery Black, Toreador Red, Mist Silver and Rocky Beige.
The Thar is very much a jeep with retro looks and modern technology though we need to spend some time with it to understand what that modern technology is capable of. A CRDI engine is certainly modern technology that comes with undeniable benefits, but how effective, we don’t know yet.
We have received a couple of spyshots as well as a video of the Mahindra World SUV testing on the outskirts of Chennai city. The World SUV (CODE – W201) is expected to have a gamut of technology and futuristic styling. It goes without saying that this product is what Aria is to Tata Motors.
The World SUV is built on a completely new platform. Its frame is monocoque type. The test mule which we spotted earlier had certain in-dash components from the Xylo. As it was a test mule, there isn’t much we can understand on the level of finish or quality that is expected.
The World SUV could have features like cruise control, climate control, reverse parking sensors, flexible seating, electrically-powered seats, high level of refinement and comfort. We could even see Mahindra plonking a brand new V6 petrol engine under this vehicle’s bonnet. We expect them to use the 2.2-liter mHawk diesel engine on the base model for the economy-conscious SUV buyer. There could also be 4×4 option and automatic transmission variants completing the line-up.
Mahindra hopes to take this vehicle across seas and in America, such a vehicle, priced aggressively could result in Mahindra sitting pretty. Mahindra will launch this model in India during the first quarter of FY 2012.
The Ssangyong Rexton will be launched in the next six months followed by the Korando C.
