Homegrown automaker Mahindra and Mahindra has once again entered the compact SUV segment, which is currently a rage in the country, with the launch of the TUV300. At a starting price of Rs 6.90 lakh (ex showroom, Pune), Mahindra has managed to price the car quite competitively.
Moreover, the carmaker needs a strong product on its hands in order to revive sales that have witnessed a slowdown in the past few quarters. It is also hoping to regain its market share in the utility vehicle segment, and for that purpose, Mahindra has equipped the TUV300 with features that set it apart from its competition.
Making the TUV300 an attractive proposition for car buyers is the fact that it is the only vehicle in the segment apart from the Quanto that comes with a seven-seat configuration, thanks to a jump seat on each side behind the second row. Moreover, the vehicle is the first compact SUV in its class to offer an AMT gearbox. Mahindra has developed the new gearbox with the help of in-house engineers along with the inputs from Ricardo, Europe.
Mahindra’s market share in the utility vehicle segment stood at nearly 34.8 percent at the end of the April-August 2015 period as against around 36.51 percent last year and over 40 percent two years ago.
The carmaker has invested Rs 1,200 crore on developing the compact SUV and another Rs 300 crore was invested by the suppliers. The carmaker has already dispatched 1,700 units of the vehicle until now and is hopeful of ramping up capacity to nearly 5,000 units a month at the Chakan plant.
“We have reached production rate of 110 units for the TUV300 per day, and we have plans to touch 200 units... The market size of the total SUV industry in India is about 47,000 units a month roughly. If we are able to sell 4,000-5,000 units per month, then we will have a market share of 8-10 percent in the SUV space,” according to Mahindra & Mahindra’s executive director, Pawan Goenka.
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Viraaj Bhatnagar
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