Mahindra plans a 12-pronged assault

MUMBAI: Mahindra & Mahindra has charted out an aggressive product-launch plan of a dozen models in the coming three-four years, as it seeks to arrest the slide in its share in an intensely competitive utility vehicle market. The marketing and product launch plans of the maker of the XUV 500 and Scorpio are aimed at least at holding to its market share if not growing it, managing director Pawan Goenka said. Its market share has almost halved in the past five years, even as action has picked up in the utility space this year with the entry of new players like MG Motor and Kia Motors.“The customers' tastes are changing very rapidly and the competitive intensity is rising with many entrants looking at India as the primary market with products,” Goenka told ET. “Therefore, for us to remain where we are, we have to do a lot more with the products — because of the technology pressure, customer pressure and competition pressure.” The company plans to launch a new-generation XUV 500, codenamed W601, in the next fiscal year starting April, Goenka said. An allnew Scorpio, codenamed Z101, and the Thar SUV being developed as W501 too are set to hit the market in fiscal 2021. These will be followed by amid-sized SUV in FY22, to rival the Hyundai Creta, based on the B-segment architecture of Ford Motor with which Mahindra has a partnership, said people in the know. This vehicle is codenamed S204.

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