Mahindra acquired SsangYong, a Korean brand, three years back. The company then launched the SsangYong Rexton SUV in India. Even though Mahindra is currently suffering from poor sales, the company isn’t deterred by this and wants to expand its base to other countries too. SsangYong caters to the Russian auto market majorly and now Mahindra is planning to bank on this fact and market some products for Russia. SsangYong entered China very recently and once the Korean automaker settles down there, it will be time for Mahindra to enter the Chinese market.
Earlier, SsangYong had a very good presence in Europe but the company went downhill after that. Now the company is gaining track slowly so Mahindra still needs to wait and watch and then decide the forward step. Both the companies have a market in Chile too, but each one of them will be following a different marketing strategy and that won’t be disturbed. The coordinated global strategy from Mahindra and SsangYong will see the light of the day approximately six months down the line. SsangYong will also launch an all-new compact SUV X100 in early 2015. Mahindra officials have agreed that their sales are falling primarily due to the reason that people are now shifting their preferences to compact SUVs.
Mahindra was keen on acquiring Saab in 2012 but a Chinese firm called National Electric Vehicle Sweden overtook Mahindra. The firm has now lost its rights to use the brand’s name and hence Mahindra might be optimistic about trying to acquire Saab again. While Saab had a small following in the US and Europe, its fans were strong believers of the brand and hence it would be wise for Mahindra to collaborate with Saab and enter these markets. French automaker Peugeot is known to produce some of the best diesel hybrids and they had even come out with hybrid air compressed technology. Mahindra might make use of some of these technologies in their products but officials from both the automakers refused to divulge details.
It is not going to be an easy task for Mahindra to rise again so quickly. The Mumbai-based automaker has a lot of interesting strategies up its sleeve but it remains to be seen what really happens. Mahindra isn’t discouraged by the fall in sales and the company will keep investing and developing new products for the market.
Source – EconomicTimes
