Mahindra & Mahindra ltd (M&M), part of the US $ 16.2 billion Mahindra Group on Friday announced the launch of its premium SUV ‘SsangYong Rexton’ in Raipur.
Designed and developed by SsangYong of South Korea, the third generation SUV is manufactured and assembled at the company’s Chakan plant on the outskirts of Pune in Maharashtra through sourcing of components from SsangYong, South Korea and India.
The 'SsangYong Rexton' being launched is already sold in 60 countries.The Assembly line of the company’s Chakan plant had to be modified to assemble and manufacture the premium SUV, Ashish Malik, Vice President (SUVs and Market Research Marketing) Mahindra & Mahindra ltd told reporters here during the launch of the premium SUV. He said that the company recorded sales growth of 20 per cent during 2012-13 in the SUV segment even when the automotive industry wasn’t doing very well in that segment.
The SUV penetration in India is 22 per cent which is still less compared to United States where it is 44 per cent with the highest in Indonesia with 75 per cent and UAE at 50 per cent. As a result there is a huge opportunity in the market for this segment in India, Malik said To a query on why a premium SUV is being launched for sale in Chhattisgarh considering the fact that the State already has a huge market for SUVs in the lower price points, he commented : ‘ With the rapid industrial development taking place in Chhattisgarh, it is the right time to launch a premium product which would certainly find buyers in this market’.
Poll time pushes up sales of SUVs
Poll time sales of SUVs in most states including Chhattisgarh peaks with significant bookings at dealerships, Jacob Varghese, Senior General Manager ( Sales) (West) told The Pioneer. During a typical election scenario, the sales of Boleros gets to 60 per cent of the overall sales of the product while Scorpio logs sales of 20 to 30 per cent during that period and in that particular State, he said.
On the sales potential of premium SUVs in the rural and semi-urban markets of Chhattisgarh, Varghese remarked : The first booking for the premium SUV ‘ SsangYong Rexton’ of Chhattisgarh had been made by a person from Jagdalpur in Bastar. The company has aggressive plans of reaching the rural and semi-urban market of the State with more dealerships to be established in such markets’.