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Mahindra & Mahindra rides on hope of turnaround; plans 7-8 variants in 2014
In 2014, Mahindra & Mahindra, India's largest utility vehicle maker, is slated to introduce 7-8 new products, including facelifts and variants of some models, in a further bid to rustle up demand in a sagging and lacklustre market
The utility vehicle maker's strategy follows the response it received for its new variants launched in the last 3-6 months, soon after excise duties were increased on utility vehicles, which resulted in demand beginning to contract.
Over the next 12-18 months, M&M has lined up a major Scorpio facelift (June 2014), new Maxximo load and passenger codenamed P405 and P409, respectively, (October 2014) and the new 0.5-tonne mini truck to replace Gio codenamed P601 (October to November 2014) to take on Tata Motors Ace Zip. Besides, it will also give a facelift to XUV, code named W207 (March 2015).
Without revealing specifics on the new products on the anvil, Pravin Shah, chief executive, automotive division, Mahindra & Mahindra, told , "There is an action-packed initiative planned on all fronts for 2014-15. This will be before our new products on new platforms start rolling out in 2015-16. There will be action in each of the segments we play in. There could be major variants, totally different drive lines and face-lifted models."
After hectic activity witnessed in FY12 and FY13, it was a relatively quieter year for M&M on the new products front. This coincided unfortunately with the overall sluggish demand environment, a sustained increase in diesel prices and hike in excise duty on utility vehicles, making matters worse for the company.
On the back of high base of FY13, when the company posted a 33 per cent growth, M&M's passenger vehicle sales declined 18 per cent year-on year to 1.66-lakh units between April and December in FY14, whereas small commercial vehicle sales have remained flat. Shah, however, said new variants in Bolero, Scorpio and XUV, helped the company report a "mini-turnaround" in the last three months.