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Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. Wins D&B – Rolta Corporate Awards 2011

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. have won the Dun & Bradstreet – Rolta Corporate Awards 2011 and this is the second year running that India’s leading SUV maker has been awarded. M&M’s Automotive Division Chief Executive, Pravin Shah, received the award from Kapil Sibal, union minister for Human Resource Development, Communications & Information at a glittering function in Mumbai recently.

M&M is placed No.1 in the Automobiles sector by the Dun & Bradstreet – Rolta Corporate Awards 2011 committee, which selects winners in various sectors, from a list of 500 leading companies.

The Dun & Bradstreet – Rolta Corporate Awards have an interesting pedigree and are outcome of a meticulous selection process. D&B (NYSE:DNB), is world’s leading source of global business information and possesses a massive database of over 250 million business records. Risk Management Solutions, solutions to increase cash flow and drive increased profitability, market analysis to locate new opportunities are D&B’s premium offerings.

The winners are chosen using a proprietary financial model developed by D&B. Eight financial weighted parameters for all the 500 companies, including total income, net profit, return on net worth, average market capitalization which contribute to shareholders value are analyzed. The resulting evaluation is designed to underline the critical role played by the leading Indian companies.

Winning through such a rigorous process has naturally delighted Pravin Shah who said that the award highlights M&M’s ‘long-term commitment to its stakeholders.’ Commitment to quality across the group has ensured that M&M products are trusted for not only quality but also score on the price front too.
The award is not really surprising considering that Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd has been the winner across a whole gamut of sectors, as varied as aerospace, defense, energy, retail, real estate, and has a dominant presence in the automotive sector of course.

Even within the automotive division, the diversity of products is significant ranging from Mahindra Tractors, Alfa three-wheelers, and Loadking the medium range trucks and a host of small-haulers like Geo, Genio, and Maxximo.

Bolero, Scorpio, Kyron, and XUV 500 continue to be the run-away successes in the personal vehicle category. And, with the recent addition of Reva electric cars, M&M has forayed into eco-friendly drives and today offers the right car whatever be the customers’ choice.

As such D&B – Rolta Corporate Awards 2011 is the logical conclusion of sustained performance and future expectations.

posted by somdatta.basu @ Tuesday, June 19th, 2012 Comments Off links to this post

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September 5, 2011

Mahindra’s First Global SUV Christened XUV500

Mahindra-XUV500-Global-SUV
There is some news on the Mahindra World SUV that we had been drooling about. Well, The monicker World SUV has been replaced with XUV500. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M), a part of the US $12.5 billion Mahindra Group, on Friday christened its much awaited SUV, project code named W201, as the XUV500 (pronounced as XUV ‘5 double Oh’).

Designed and developed entirely in-house by Mahindra, the XUV500 is Mahindra’s first global SUV platform, with significant inputs in styling and development from customers across the globe. In fact, consumer research for the Mahindra XUV500 was carried out in various Western markets, South Africa and India, with testing and validation of the product being done across Europe, Australia and South Africa among others.

Conceptualized with the aim of creating an altogether new category between the Scorpio and high end SUVs, the XUV500 is the next generation SUV targeted at Generation X, where the double O connotes the added Oomph value in the product. The XUV500 is contemporary, truly stylized with sophisticated technologies and incorporates the best-in class global manufacturing quality. The XUV500 is thus the first in a series of next-generation SUVs that will set the stage for the emergence of M&M as a force to be reckoned with in the global automotive arena.

Designed entirely in-house at M&M’s world class research and development facility the Mahindra Research Valley at Chennai, the XUV500 is also the country’s first indigenously developed monocoque SUV with the first transverse engine offering from Mahindra. What makes the XUV500 truly unique and global is simply the manner in which it was conceived and designed. In fact, all research & development activities for this global SUV were aligned with global standards of quality, technology, testing norms, regulations & emissions from the very start.

The XUV500, thus, is the very epitome of the Mahindra RISE philosophy as its development challenged the limits and conventional thinking, and involved the innovative use of resources. The vehicle will be manufactured at M&M’s future-ready manufacturing facility at Chakan in Maharashtra, where again innovative engineering, state-of-the-art technologies and manufacturing excellence are simply par for the course.

Dr. Pawan Goenka, President, Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, M&M Ltd. said “We are all set to create a new milestone with the launch of the Mahindra XUV500 which truly embodies and encapsulates the essence of the Mahindra Rise philosophy. Having extensively tested and validated our product with global and Indian customers alike, I am happy to add that we will simultaneously launch the XUV500 in South Africa under the same brand name. I am confident that the XUV500 will follow in the footsteps of its illustrious predecessors to evolve into an iconic brand.”

W201-from-Mahindra-finally-christened-XUV500

Mr. Rajesh Jejurikar, Chief Executive, Automotive Division, M&M Ltd. said, “The Mahindra brand has evolved over time. Today it enjoys the strongest equity in the SUV category. Therefore, Mahindra will now be the lead brand for the XUV500. Additionally, with the XUV500 we are attempting to create a new category in the SUV segment, that will not only challenge the conventional but will also certainly translate into double customer delight.”

Mahindra has today evolved as the undisputed market leader in the SUV segment with a market share of 60.5 percent, largely based on the domestic and international successes of its iconic brands like the Bolero, the Scorpio and the Xylo.

In fact, the Bolero launched in 2000 continues to evolve and remain India’s No. 1 selling SUV for the last 5 consecutive years. In a similar vein, the Xylo too has created a distinct niche for itself in the sedan – plus category. The Scorpio, of course, redefined the SUV segment in India and has gone on to become an iconic brand with a cult following among Indian consumers. Little wonder than that, M&M is today, ranked as an Olympic brand by Milward Brown because of the excellent bonding it enjoys with Indian SUV owners.

posted by carazooblog @ Monday, September 5th, 2011 Comments Off links to this post

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June 16, 2010

An Enhanced Logan? M&M Will Have to Pay More to Renault

mahindra-logan
Finally some updates on our dear forgotten Logan, Mahindra and Renault’s only child. The parents have separated and hardly anyone in India wants to take home the abandoned child. But, India’s largest SUV maker M&M has decided to take full responsibility of the oversized sedan. The car maker will hold negotiations with ex-partner Renault for reforming the Logan platform and making it usable for applications other than passenger cars.

When the relationship was at its peak of disaster, Mahindra had bought Renault’s 49 per cent stake in the joint venture. However, M&M which is trying hard to improve its fortunes has only limited independence to the Logan. Besides the developmental costs for making engineering changes to the Logan or its platform, M&M will also have to make payments to Renault. Yes, the French car maker holds the original right for the car.

Renault will have to give its approval before M&M moves ahead with its modification plans for the Logan. Right now, M&M is checking if a shortened version of the Logan can be feasible. We had spoken about it earlier, remember? A Logan less than four metres would attract less tax, thus making it cheaper than the current one. Renault, meanwhile, is open to extending all technological or design support needed by M&M. Renault has signed a technical licence agreement and hasn’t sold the platform to M&M, which restricts them to make any free changes.

Mahindra will also have to think of a new name for the car. The Renault branding and the Logan name will have to be discontinued post December 31 this year, as part of the rearrangement of the joint venture agreement between the two companies. Post January 1, 2011, rebranding the car will be M&M’s responsibility.

After buying Renault’s stake, M&M had slashed the Logan’s price by as much as Rs 80,000, and yes, the trick did work. An improved trend in the Logan’s sales has been observed. 303 units were sold in April while 450 were rolled out in May this year. The reduction offer was brought in force in the final week of April, just over a week after Mahindra and Renault split.

Will M&M build a new car on the Logan platform? ‘No’ says M&M, at least not for the time being. “We have several options in front of us, such as a utility vehicle, multi-purpose vehicle, SUV and cross-over, since we have the expertise in that segment with the Scorpio, Bolero and Xylo,” said an M&M official. For now, M&M wants to scale up sales of the Logan to 900-1,000 units a month may be by December.

On the other side Renault is getting ready to bring to India its first standalone car by mid-2011. The Koleos SUV and a premium mid-segment sedan, the Fluence are also on their way to the Indian car market. These two come as a result of the Nissan-Renault JV and will be produced at Nissan’s Chennai facility.

Renault’s plans don’t end there. The car maker plans to have five models on the Indian roads by 2013, including a small car based on the platform on which the Nissan Micra is built. The MPV Kangoo, which will compete against the Maruti Suzuki Eeco and Tata’s Venture, will also be launched.

posted by carazooblog @ Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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May 27, 2010

GM and Reva Breakup Story

chevy_electric_spark_delhi_-3
Mahindra and Reva became friends and on the same day we see GM India deciding to leave Reva. Possessiveness ah? The confirmed news of Mahindra buying majority stake in Reva was made public on Wednesday and General Motors couldn’t stand it. Speculation says that GM may pull out of its collaboration with Reva Electric Car Co. Last year, GM India had tied the knot with Reva to develop an electric version of its popular small car, the Spark, which was scheduled to hit the roads sometime this year.

“We may not continue the Spark EV programme with Reva in the light of this development and will pursue our own electric vehicle programme. An announcement to this effect will be issued soon,” GM India vice-president P Balendran said. India’s SUV and tractor leader, Mahindra and the global leader in low-cost electric-vehicle production, Reva have got together with the idea of sharing expertise in their respective fields. Hopefully, they’ll be very successful. Mahindra & Mahindra acquired 55.2 per cent stake in Reva. While celebrations are on one side, the other side (GM) has gone green with envy.

GM will produce its own EVs. What about the electric Spark? M&M is quite open and has no problem with GM continuing the project. No financial details were revealed. But, Reva’s Chief Financial Officer Rajesh Ramaiah said that some exchange of money had taken place between the two companies. GM has already informed M&M and Reva about its decision to look at an alternative option for the electric Spark programme. Sad but true, isn’t it?
divorce-decree

After tying the knot in September last year, GM India and Reva had announced that the two were looking at both India and overseas markets for the proposed electric small car based on the platform of the Spark and planned to turn the country into a hub for electric vehicles.

There were great plans then and everything is going to change now. The two had planned to roll out the electric Spark in a series of battery options and price points. The proposed version of the car was planned to have up to 90 per cent local components. Both GM and Reva had at that time said that they were open to the option of expanding the electric model to GM India’s other cars too.

Mahindra gained 0.3 per cent to 517.35 rupees in Mumbai the day before yesterday. The stock has fallen 4.3 per cent this year. The car maker’s Xylo and Scorpio models compete with GM’s Tavera utility vehicle and CaptivaSUVs in India. Reva is offering its cars in 24 countries and has sold more than 3,500 vehicles worldwide. The company intends to begin selling the lithium-ion- powered Reva NXR as early as October. The three-door, four-seat hatchback has a top speed of 104 kmph and a range of 160 kilometers per charge. Isn’t that great?
chevrolet_electric_spark_5

But, whose fault is it now? Who’s responsible for the recent breakup? Does the question of Reva’s fidelity pop in, or, is GM over-reacting? It’s hard to decide. Let’s just hope that all goes well with all three; GM, Reva and Mahindra.