Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), the country's largest Utility Vehicle (UV) maker, has claimed that the XUV500 Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) is a successful Vehicle in the Indian auto industry and has beaten almost every vehicle in its segment. Besides, the company has declared that the model outsells almost every sedan, which lies in a price bracket of Rs. 10 to Rs. 15 lacs.
Reportedly, M&M rejoices with a dominant share of more than 60 per cent in the high-end SUV segment of the Indian auto industry. However, the company believes that the XUV500 will be said a real success only if the model proves its mettle in the global arena. Stating the company's view, the Automotive President of M&M, Pawan Goenka, said, “We are only in the big league in India. We will arrive globally only when we get a decent market share from this product in some of the most advanced markets.”
Along with India, the auto maker has introduced XUV500 in South Africa and sells around 100-150 units every month in the country. Off late, the model has been introduced in Australia as well as Italy, and Chile is also on the cards of the auto maker. The company also plans to eventually mark its presence in Latin America and Europe's few developed markets in a couple of years. Goenka further said, “I will be able to define success if we are able to get consistently sell 500 per month in these four markets; that will give us a feeling that we are getting reasonable volumes and eventually to get 1,000 to 1,200 units per month from exports.”
On the other hand, industry experts believe that the company is presently busy in developing an automatic model of XUV500, which will be powered with a petrol engine. The speculated model will be on pricier side and will be a trimmed down version of the current generation model. However, Goenka refused to share any information on this and rather said, “We are doing market research right now. We will look at various vehicles: small ones, big ones, MPVs, cars...whatever makes sense. Everything is on drawing board, and all options are open as long as they do not dilute the XUV500's brand value. He adds that automatic and gasoline (petrol) versions are an imperative for overseas markets.”
