Mahindra Silent About Partnership With Peugeot; to Maintain Focus on SUVs

With the upcoming Mahindra Scorpio facelift making a lot of noise in the market, we wondered what else is in store in the Mahindra & Mahindra stables. Anand Mahindra, Chairman and MD, Mahindra Group, maintains that as far as passenger vehicles are concerned, the company will continue to work with partners and partnerships. Since the group's current portfolio comprises of the Verito and the Vibe, excluding the utility vehicles and SUVs, the statement left us deliberating about the company's plans for their SUVs.

Mr Mahindra said, "Our focus on our own would be on the SUVs." He, however, declined to comment on reports of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) looking for partnership with Peugeot. Just so you know, the company has been involved in joint ventures with Ford and Renault in the past.

That said, he also added that the group is already working on electric versions of Verito and Vibe and that a new Scorpio is also in the works. He said, "The pipeline is very strong. We have got refreshes plus new models coming and all of that you would see in a number of launches."

When asked about the market conditions, Mahindra said, "The late Monsoon has delayed the trigger for the industry overall. People have started saying that industry is growing but that's because of the (sales) numbers of certain companies that have got new product launches."

(With inputs from PTI)