The Mahindra Quanto clearly wants to snatch the pie from Renault Duster and it may not be all that difficult in India given that Mahindra is a well known brand here.
Mahindra has decided to extend Quanto’s rivalry with Duster all the way to Europe, where the latter has a strong foothold in both Dacia and Renault guises.
The Quanto won’t be enjoying home ground advantage, but it will use its compact footprint and a tempting price tag to make a living.
Mr. Ruzbeh Irani, head of international operations at Mahindra told Automotive News Europe that the mini SUV will be unveiled to Europe at Bologna motor show in December, shortly after which the European innings will begin.
Italy will be the Quanto’s first European home and will be followed by Spain, where the Goa SUV and pickup truck (Scorpio and Scorpio pickup) are sold.
In his recent interaction with Indian Autos Blog, Mr. Vivek Nayer, Chief marketing officer of Mahindra’s automotive sector, told that the Quanto will also be exported to South Africa and Latin American countries.
While there is no official statement about the Quanto’s European pricing, we can expect it to undercut that of Duster by a considerable margin.
The Quanto’s powertrain is expected to stay unaltered and whether or not an automatic version will pop up remains to be seen. Mahindra could make use of a modified version of their 6-speed autobox which is available in the Scorpio.
According to the market researchers JATO Dynamics, Mahindra was able to sell only 563 vehicles in Europe last year and the Quanto along with its big brother XUV500 will be shouldering a huge responsibility of convincing the Europeans that Mahindra is indeed a global automobile brand.
[Source: Europe.autonews.com]
