M&M faces a legal battle in US

Global Vehicles, a distributor of Mahindra Mahindra's upcoming pick-up for US market, has sued the Indian auto giant for an inordinate delay in launch. Global Vehicles has filed a lawsuit with the Atlanta District Court regarding complaints of excessive delay in rolling-out this vehicle in the US market.

Mahindra had recently announced that the launch of its pick-ups in US market will only be done by the end of this year. It's been almost a year since the company is rescheduling this prospective launch for the US market. The company had said that the launch has been delayed as the vehicle needs to be tested extensively on American roads before acquiring the clarification from US regulators.

The US based distributor had filed the lawsuit on 14th of June in which it has claimed of spending about to $35 million in the arrangements for the launch including the initial fee of $8.5 million for distribution appointment. The firm has also claimed that it has signed 360 dealers across the nation to provide a strong dealership base to this pick-up. The claims further includes the expenditure of more than $60 million in franchisee fees to acquire the right to sell MM's vehicles.

Mr Pawan Goenka (the president of Mahindra's Automotive arm) had said a few days ago that the company wanted to give the best product to the American consumer and thereby wanted to be absolutely sure on parameters before its launch.