Mahindra TUV300 SUV was launched today priced at Rs 6.90 lakh (ex-showroom Pune for the Mahindra TUV300 T4 model) in Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M) Chakan plant in Maharashtra.
Competition is set to increase in the crowded compact SUV space with Mahindra & Mahindra on Thursday launching its first offering in the compact SUV segment with the battle tank inspired Mahindra TUV300. Anand Mahindra, chairman, Mahindra Group, launched the aggressively priced vehicle starting at Rs 6.9 lakh for the entry level variant going up to Rs 9.12 lakh for the fully loaded version. The vehicle will be the first of its kind in the compact segment as it will offer both automatic manual transmission (AMT) and anti lock braking systems (ABS) along with dual airbags for all the three variants.
Mahindra has decided to stay clear off the monocoque SUV and instead decided to reinforce its hold on the chassis-based SUV targeting true-blue SUV lovers. Group chairman, Anand Mahindra said the future of the automotive industry is changing with the advent of the Olas and Ubers where owning vehicles is not priority and transportation becomes a commodity. In such a scenario people will be buying vehicles they love and Mahindra has a range that will continue to the appeal to its customers, he said. The love for SUVs in the Indian market is expected to grow. Mahindra said the market share of SUVs will go up from the 23% to 30% soon and that means the pie for all SUV makers will grow.
Mahindra has invested Rs 1,200 crore in the development of the new platform and production of the vehicle while suppliers have injected another Rs 300 crore which takes investment to Rs 1,500 crore, Pawan Goenka, ED, M&M said. Four years in the making, the vehicle was designed and engineered by the company in-house at the Mahindra Research Valley in chennai and the Mahindra studio in Mumbai with inputs from Italian automobile design firm, Pininfarina. Mahindra has also become the first Indian company to manufacture AMT in-house for its vehicles. The company got some assistance for the AMT from Ricarado of UK. It is a proprietary Mahindra design, Pravin Shah, president, Commercial Vehciles said. The vehicle comes with a mHawk engine and the company will introduce its first 1.2 litre diesel engine with the next compact SUV codenamed S 101 and is scheduled to be launched in the second half of the current fiscal.
The Mahindra TUV300 will be manufactured at the Chakan plant with 1,600 people dedicated to manufacturing the SUV. The company right now has capacity to manufacture 5,000 units of the vehicle a month which can be expanded as per demand.
This year we had three new launches and six more are expected this year along with three new platforms, Goenka said. We are the only SUV maker to register growth in the entire segment with 13% YoY growth in XUV 500 and 5% growth in the New Scorpio in the first five months of this fiscal, Goenka said. If we do 4,000 to 5,000 units a month then we can have a 8% to 10% market share in the compact segment, Goenka said.
The company has dispatched 1,700 units of Mahindra TUV300 to dealerships across the country, Goenka said. The TUV 300 is targeted at both the urban and rural customers as Mahindra looks to leverage its reach in the rural markets besides wooing the urban customers with a compact model.
Mahindra will also start exporting the Mahindra TUV300 to South Africa and will subsequently be exported to other countries in Africa and SAARC region.
The company is also developing three new petrol engines with its South Korean subsidiary, Ssangyong, Goenka said.
