Mahindra may not upgrade some models to BS-VI, says Pawan Goenka

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) may be forced to phase out some products that have been a drag on its overall portfolio before the industry welcomes Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission norms.

On the sidelines of an event to unveil the name of its upcoming multi-utility vehicle, Marazzo, Pawan Goenka, Managing Director of Mahindra said a call will have to be taken about the future of low volume products.

“BS-VI will bring a significant cost impact and therefore, some products may become a little more economically hard to justify than others. Currently, we are going with the assumption that all our products will be BS-VI because the way the development is done it is in a modular form. Closer to the time when we have the final understanding of the cost impact and demand impact we may decide that some low volume products do not make sense to continue,” said Goenka.

M&M’s rival Tata Motors has already laid out a clear product roadmap for the period after the BS-VI implementation. The company has done away with its first generation models like Indica and Indigo and also signaled at the end of Nano, the low-cost car, although it has not shared anything definitive till date.

Among the models in M&M’s portfolio that have struggled to do well are Xylo, Thar, Nuvosport, Verito, and Vibe. Goenka said with the upcoming Marazzo there will be no phasing out of the Xylo, which is also a people mover like the Marazzo.

“We will take that call (on the future of Xylo) based on demand. Xylo has been in its own niche where it sells 700-800 a month. And it is a consistent volume generator, we see no reason to remove it (now). We will let the customer decide,” added Goenka.

Renault-derived products such as Verito (built on Renault Logan) and Vibe have been moved to either the commercial market (cab aggregators) or the electric vehicle division. But they also face an uncertain future.

“Verito and Vibe are moving to the e-platform. We have not taken a call yet on them but they fall into that category of ‘may or may not continue,” added Goenka. The company said it will launch a fully electric version of the KUV100 in the April-June quarter of next year.

Further elaborating on the Marazzo Goenka added that since the vehicle is built on an all-new platform it can accommodate more engines than what it will be launched with at the end of this quarter.

“It is certainly designed to take in more powertrains, smaller and bigger, than what we are launching it with. We have not designed it for electric and we are not sure if the size of this is the right size for an electric powertrain,” added Goenka.