M&M drives in Quanto at Rs 5.82L

Nachiket Kelkar
Moneycontrol.com

Mahindra & Mahindra on Thursday drove in the long awaited Quanto, the smallest sports utility vehicle (SUV) in its portfolio.

The Quanto has been priced in Rs 5.82--7.36 lakh range exishowroom Thane, and the company hopes its SUV stance, features, yet being compact, will lure buyers to migrate from hatchbacks and entry--level sedans.

The Quanto is based on Mahindra's Genio platform and will be manufactured at Nashik in Maharashtra. The vehicle will immediately go on sale through a network of 200 dealers nationally.

M&M invested around Rs 550 crore in the development of original Genio platform, with Xylo the first product rolled out, around Rs 200 crore on the Genio pickup truck and about Rs 100 crore on the Quanto, according to Pawan Goenka, president-- automotive and farm equipment sector.

The company has a capacity to make 7,000 units of Xylo and Quanto together at Nashik and actual production of the two will depend on demand, officials said.

Road Ahead
Automobile sales in India, especially passenger cars, have been sluggish over last one year, due to expensive loans and high fuel prices.

Last week the government announced a steep Rs 5 increase in diesel prices.

M&M's Pravin Shah, chief executive-- automotive sector, said there was some lower level of excitement in the auto industry this year compared to earlier festive seasons.

However, he expects the price hike will get absorbed over time as festive season picks up and with the overall monsoon deficit also reducing to around 8% now, rural demand for automobiles should also be good.

In addition to that, the wide choice in SUVs and offering of new products across price points in the market by various players will also continue to drive SUV sales, Goenka said.

Apart from the Quanto, Mahindra is also set to launch the Rexton from South Korean automaker Ssangyong stable, apart from the planned electric vehicle Reva NXR this year.

Export plans

M&M officials say a export variant of the Quanto will be ready in next 4-5 months, although domestic demand will be a focus.

The company is looking at markets like South Africa, Chile and Europe for exporting Quanto.

Mahindra already sells Scorpio in Europe and is set to launch the XUV500 in Rome next week.

nachiket.kelkar@network18online.com