Mahindra & Mahindra

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. is one of the major automotive company of India. They initially had collaboration with Willys Overland Corporation to import and assemble jeeps in India. They are the market leaders in the utility vehicles segment. They are also a major player in the tractor manufacturing segment as well.

They are the only sole Indian company to be a part of the top five tractor manufacturing companies in the world.Mahindra & Mahindra's automobile chapter dates back to 1947. Then it was only restricted to the assembling and importing of Willys Jeeps. However, shortly after that they started manufacturing their own light commercial vehicles. They were always very keen on working out their own indigenous technology. Their USP is their capability to manufacture vehicles with having very little technological help from foreign sources. They are very indigenous regarding this particular aspect. Their first indigenously developed sports utility vehicle was the "Scorpio".

However, it was only in 1994, that a specialized automotive division was created. This was done along with the organizational restructuring. Mahindra & Mahindra has four manufacturing plants. Out of them three are located in Maharastra and one in Andhra Pradesh. The three manufacturing units in Maharastra are in Mumbai, Nasik and Igatpuri. The first two deal with multi-utility vehicles and the third one deal with engines. The fourth plant is located in Zaheerabad in Andhra Pradesh. This one deals with the manufacture of light commercial vehicles and three wheelers.

They also have a very strong network of dealers, sales offices, service stations etc. Even their R&D division is equally strong. Mahindra & Mahindra has established a very strong market base in the urban and semi-urban areas. Their multi-utility vehicles are very popular among people there. They also export their products to other countries as well.

Mahindra & Mahindra has recently entered into a joint venture with Renault, an auto manufacturing company from France. It would be called Mahindra Logan, they would be manufacturing Logan's in India. However, the cars will only be available from mid 2007. They are planning to sell somewhere around 50,000 cars in a year. Although, they haven't yet come out with a price structure for the vehicle. They would be competing with Honda, Fiat, Hyundai and Ford in the C-segment of the Indian automobiles market.