Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M), the erstwhile
Mahindra & Mohammed, was a company launched in 1945. Their association with
the automobile industry commenced when they started assembling and building the
Willy’s Jeep, which was put in use during World War II. It is perhaps this experience,
which prompted Mahindra to come out with rough and tough vehicles, which would
overcome any terrain. Mahindra Cars, while being an affordable lot, are also known
for their strength, reliability and elegance not only in the Indian auto
industry but also all over the world.
Currently, there are nine Mahindra cars available in India,
which belong to various segments like the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), Multi
Utility Vehicle (MUV), compact SUV and sedan segments.
Mahindra is a specialist in utility vehicles. It has the
maximum number of vehicles in this segment. Its leading models in the utility
segment include the likes of Mahindra Bolero, Mahindra Quanto, Mahindra
Scorpio, Mahindra Thar and Mahindra XUV500. All these cars are best sellers and
toppers in their sub category. They are powerful machines with looks to kill.
They can navigate any type of terrain with utmost ease. These cars are big and
burly and they are quite spacious on the inside as well. The Mahindra brand of
SUVs was instrumental in popularizing the SUVs in India. Until they came of
scene, the SUVs were perceived as commercial vehicles and not family cars.
Mahindra has very limited offering in other segments. Verito
is the sole Mahindra car in the sedan segment. Although this car is a good bet,
stiff competition from the likes of Honda Amaze, Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire,
Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Xcent and Tata Zest have rendered this car rather low
performer.
However, Mahindra has taken up electric vehicles under its
with great earnest. It has invested a huge amount of money in this segment. As
a part of expanding its Horizon, Mahindra has acquired stakes in the electric
car company Reva. Consequently, Mahindra exports a large number of electrical
cars to countries like Sri Lanka, UK and Norway among others.
Apart from these, Mahindra is working towards making the
first hybrid technology, which can be installed in the vehicles with manual
transmission to make them more fuel-efficient. If things work out the way
Mahindra plans, then the fuel efficiency can be increased by around 18% using
this technology.
In short, Mahindra cars are all that a car should be – it should
be powerful, attractive, affordable and reliable, while being fuel-efficient
too. All these qualities endear the
Mahindra cars to the buyers. However, it needs to expand its presence to
hitherto untested segments like hatchback, so that it can take on the likes of
Maruti and Hyundai more effectively.
