Posted on 11/17/2006 10:01:24 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
BANGALORE, India, Nov. 16 — India’s leading sport utility maker plans to sell its S.U.V.’s and pickup trucks in the United States through an American distributor, bringing Indian-made vehicles to the United States for the first time.
“Half of the global sales in S.U.V.’s and pickups is in the United States and we want to capture at least a fraction of that to start with,” said Pawan Goenka, president of the automotive division of Mahindra & Mahindra, the Indian manufacturer. The United States is the “ultimate market,” he said in a telephone interview from Mumbai.
Mahindra & Mahindra plans to sell its vehicles through Global Vehicles U.S.A., a distributor based in Alpharetta, Ga. Global would import the first group of the Indian vehicles in about a year and distribute them through a dealer network. The distributor said it had signed on 130 dealers so far and would add another 70 in the coming months.
“No Indian company has dared so far” to enter the United States market, Mr. Goenka said. He added that the deal was a sign of a newfound confidence among Indian auto companies in their quality standards and cost-competitiveness.
The deal comes at a time when global automakers are, conversely, beating a path to India to manufacture and sell a variety of models in an effort to tap the growing number of young, affluent Indians in a country of 1.1 billion.
Just last week, Mahindra & Mahindra announced a joint venture with Renault to build a plant in India with a capacity of 500,000 cars a year, starting in 2009.
In the United States, Mahindra plans to initially introduce a sport utility vehicle and a pickup. A diesel-electric hybrid version of the S.U.V. would follow.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I don't suppose they'll be offering leather seats.
How dare those greedy Americans grab up half the worlds SUV's. They should all buy little dinky cars like the enlightened Europeans.
Now there's a winner.
Can't wait for the high-tech, whoosy commercial complete with the said vehicles swooping all over the Hindu-Kush, hinting that the average Indian spends his weekends rock-climbing and hiking the hinterlands, or towing oversized loads of raw lumber.
ROFLMAO!! You read my mind!
LOL!!!.........
With the purchase of your new SUV, we will include a free Squishy! Thank you and come again!"
Hey' check out my new SUV, hop in for a ride.
Wow Bob nice car...it smells a little funny though.
it's more a cross-over than a true SUV I think
Indian vehicles have a long way to go in terms of quality. I remember reading a very negative review of a small SUV being sold in the UK, made by Tata. The only advantage it had according to the review was the very low pricing. And, of course, that's exactly how Japan and Korea and now China got their start in auto exports. Price first, quality later - unless the initial quality is too atrocious (e.g. Yugo), it's a formula that works.
That and this are the cars made for the Indian market. I doubt this is the same one being talked about in the main article.
I hear it runs on Curry.
"Scorpio", eh? I would've held out for the "Bangalore Torpedo".
I talked to a guy with a Mahindra tractor. He says it's rugged and dependable.
LOL!
The Ganesh model promises a lot more trunk space!
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