No concrete plans on other Ssangyong products

Mahindra's XUV 500 won the award for the Most Popular SUV in CarDekho's viewer's choice awards and on this event we speak to Mr Vivek Nayer, Mahindra & Mahindra's Chief Marketing Officer of Automotive Division, speaks to us about Mahindra's current product range. The man has confidence in the company's products and it reflects in the team and their sales numbers. Mahindra was the third largest manufacturer in last month's sales.

Q1) What do we expect in terms of variants of the XUV 500? There have been rumours of the automatic version.

Ans) We haven’t said when the automatic is coming. It is a variant on our mind and we are happy with the response from the customers. We are happy with the response and we are happy we have built this brand, as we have built this brand from scratch. We are working on different innovation campaign on internet, television etc. The XUV 500 has a good fan following on facebook with about 1 million followers and it’s like having your newspaper or magazine.

Q2) The Rexton has been doing good. Do we expect any other Ssangyong products in the near future? Like the Korando?

Ans) The Ssangyong Rexton is at the top end of our range, so at a price range of Rs 18-20lakhs (ex-showroom), as XUV 500 is much below. The Korean brands have a good reputation in India like Samsung and even Hyundai, this is one reason why we introduced the brand. The Ssangyong has been introduced in 35 cities so far. The Rexton is another good option for the Fortuner. People have liked the product and are impressed with the product’s quality. Speaking of the other models from the Ssangyong aren’t decided. We will take it step by step. At the moment, we are focusing on the Rexton and we haven’t even done any promotion for the SUV, except for the press launches. Soon, you shall see some TV commercials on it.

Q3) The Verito has the Renault engine, so will this always the case or we expect any new engines?

Ans) The Verito at the moment has the Renault engine, and we buy it from them. The informative is fairly competitive and we cannot disclose any plans on this.

Q4) The Scorpio is almost a decade old, and when can we expect anything new or any upgrades on this model?

Ans) Scorpio and Bolero are two products that are going strength to strength. Every year both of them surprise us. A lot of royalty of customers, and mouth to mouth of good word spread. The best part of Mahindra’s success is that there is no cannibalisation of products, unlike most of the other companies.