M&M pick-ups to hit US roads by ’09

25 pick-ups will be test-driven 1,25,000 miles each over the coming months

NEW YORK: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) intends to have its diesel-powered compact pick-ups on showroom floors in the US by the fourth quarter of 2009.

Atlanta-based Global Vehicles USA Inc, M&M’s American distributor, told US media that M&M had pushed back the launch by a few months because it had ordered more testing to ensure the trucks meet the expectations of buyers.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Monday that 25 M&M pick-ups will be test driven 1,25,000 miles each over US roads over the next several months. That’s more than 3.1 million miles.

Xavier Beguiristain, vice-president (marketing), Global Vehicles, told the US newspaper, “They (M&M) want to make sure they get the vehicles right. They’re very keen on that.”

M&M’s diesel-powered two-and four-door pick-ups still need to get all the requisite US regulatory approvals. They will have to meet the EPA’s tough new diesel emission requirements for the 2010 model year, a goal that Beguiristain told the US media is attainable.

Global Vehicles won’t reveal price details, but it says the M&M pick-ups are expected to sell for “substantially less” than their competition in the compact arena, which includes the Ford Ranger and the Toyota Tacoma. Auto analysts here told DNA Money the vehicles are expected to be sold for around $25,000. 

M&M’s trucks haven’t undergone EPA mileage testing yet, but company officials say they will have combined city-highway fuel economy of close to 30 miles per gallon. If they can make that number, it would give them a clear MPG edge over rivals.

Last year, M&M also introduced a line of sports-utility vehicles it plans to sell in the US. M&M chief Anand G Mahindra recently told US media that the American market, which had seen gas prices go through the roof was, “wide open” for energy-efficient Indian SUVs, which are smaller and more compact, and for diesel SUVs.

He noted that M&M enjoyed an advantage because it used four-cylinder engines, which consume less fuel. The auto maker is the first company in Asia outside Japan to have a hybrid to market in the US.

M&M, which has been building utility vehicles in India since 1945, already sells about 10,000 farm tractors a year in the US, targeting smaller farmers. In fact, the sturdy and cheap M&M tractors born out of “frugal engineering” are a big hit there with bargain hunters and American hobby farmers.   

US car distributors told DNA Money that M&M’s light new pick-up trucks could now “strike a chord” with South Asian businessmen, especially convenience store owners comfortable with the “made in India” brand. They are confident that there is a big market for M&M’s simple, small, economical and tough-as-nails pick-up.

Global Vehicles says it has signed up 324 of the 450 dealers it plans to have on board by the time the Indian trucks rolls into US showrooms.