Mahindra reworking Scorpio as full-fledged SUV

02 April 2009

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd is giving its popular Scorpio an image makeover and repositioning it as a full-fledged sports utility vehicle, rather than the multi-utility vehicle tag that it carries at present.

The company will upgrade the power train of the Scorpio, which has so far registered total sales of two lakh units. "There is an endeavour to position the Scorpio as a complete SUV now that we have the (new utility model) Xylo," Mahindra & Mahindra president (automotive) Pawan Goenka told reporters in Mumbai.

"We have been constantly upgrading the Scorpio and recently launched the latest version with a more muscular look and optimised for off-road drives," he said. In the beginning of March the company had launched the latest version of the Scorpio, with new design in front grille, headlights, fog lamps, bumpers, embossed side cladding, along with other features such as digital immobiliser.

Goenka later told CNBC-TV 18 that M&M expects strong sales in April on demand for its utility vehicles ahead of the general elections, but the following two months will be testing times. The country's largest utility vehicle and tractor maker reported a six per cent rise in total vehicle sales in March, compared with a year earlier, with domestic sales climbing 11 per cent to 25,748 units.

"March is always a high-selling month. So it's very rarely that you will see the March-kind of numbers to continue," Goenka said. However, he added that because utility vehicles are in demand for campaigning during elections, sales should be strong in April.

"However, May and June will be the real test to see whether the industry has come back from the downturn that we saw in the (fiscal) third quarter," he added, referring to the October-December period.