Addressing shareholders for the final time as the company’s executive chairman Anand Mahindra promised to get Mahindra & Mahindra to the top in the core sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment by 2025.
From being the leader, the Mumbai-based company saw a freefall in market share with the renewed entry of Hyundai, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, and Kia in the SUV segment, pushing M&M to the fifth spot.
“We want to expand our core which is our reputation as makers of authentic SUVs. When a customer looks at our products, they should feel authentic and not a ‘wannabe’ SUV. Rather than ‘me-too products we want to build a category creating SUV. The latest example is the all-new Thar,” Mahindra said to shareholders at the 75th annual general meeting of M&M.
Launched in October last year the Thar garnered booking of over 66,000 units, including over 39,000 bookings that are yet to be serviced. The waiting period of the Thar is presently 10 months. This has made the off-roader one of M&M’s best-selling SUVs of all time.
“MADE (Mahindra Advanced Design Europe) is a strategic enhancement of Mahindra’s global ability. We would look to become No.1 in core SUVs with a very strong EV (electric vehicle) play by 2025,” Mahindra added.
M&M's share in the utility vehicle (UV) segment, according to data provided by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) stood at 14.87 percent at the end of June 2021. SIAM data does not provide a bifurcation basis of the class of vehicles.
Maruti Suzuki is the leader of the UV segment (20.97 percent market share) with the Vitara Brezza followed by Hyundai (19.44 percent market share) with the Creta and Venue. From nearly zero products in the SUV segment, Tata Motors (10.94 percent market share) has three on sale, Nexon, Harrier, and Safari. Kia India (14.74 percent market share) sells the Sonet and the Seltos SUVs.
Launched nearly a decade ago M&M depends on the Scorpio for volume generation with 20-25 percent sales coming from it. The XUV300 and the XUV500 are the other SUVs from M&M. Models like the TUV300, KUV100 and the G4 Alturas failed to meet sales expectations.
“We have launched the Bolero Neo this year and we are launching the XUV700 next. During this year we will (also) launch the all-new Scorpio,” Mahindra added.
M&M’s production run-rate has been restricted for the past several months due to a shortage in the availability of semiconductors. This has been the reason why the company could not raise the output of the Thar to desired levels. Semiconductors are used in engine ECUs, antilock braking systems, and infotainment systems in M&M vehicles.
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