M&M’s pick-up truck launch in U.S. by December

Pawan Goenka, M&M president (Automotive) at a press conference in Mumbai. File Photo: Paul Noronha

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra on Wednesday said it will launch its pick-up truck in the US by the end of this year.

Speaking to PTI, M&M President (Automotive) Pawan Goenka said it will launch the compact diesel pick-up truck in the U.S. “by the end year”, thus becoming the first company to sell an Indian-made vehicle in North America.

Earlier this year, at the Auto Expo held here, Mr. Goenka had said that M&M would start producing the pick-up by the end of 2009-10 and expected to begin shipments to the US by early 2010-11.

On the shift in timing of the launch of the product, Mr. Goenka said this was because of changes made to the truck to conform to U.S. regulations and meet American tastes.

“We wanted to give the best product to the American consumer and thereby wanted to be absolutely sure on all parameters before its launch,” he said.

He said M&M expects to get certification from the US Environmental Protection Agency by July this year and would begin production in India in mid-September and the trucks would arrive in US showrooms by late December.

Production for the truck is slated to be commissioned at Chakan in Maharashtra, he added.

Mr. Goenka said the truck doesn’t yet have a name, but is likely to be called TR20 and TR40, depending on the model. “Since we’re new, we want to emphasise that the truck is just branded Mahindra.”