Automobile and farm equipment maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), which faced the brunt of competition, has finally broken into positive territory, after FY13.
The main reason of a recovery in FY-16 (April to October) is driven primarily by new launches such as TUV and the XUV facelift.
In November, the company posted 36 per cent growth. It sold 19,662 units as compared to 14,473 units in the same month last year.
"FY-2016 is going to be the company's comeback year," Pravin Shah, Mahindra & Mahindra's, president and chief executive for automotive, told the Economic Times.
“The sharp drop in rural sales seems to have equalized, the TUV300 sub-compact SUV is performing well (since its launch, around 16,000 units have been booked), and the company is all set to add two more products to the Mahindra family before the end of this fiscal,” he said.
Shah is also confident that Mahindra would be able to continue its good run.
"Looking at the current product portfolio continuing to do better, and the new products on the anvil, cumulatively we have moved into positive territory. I am not saying the buoyancy is back, but we are well poised in the current environment to face the scenario," said Shah.
Though shah abstained from commenting on the upcoming Mahindra S101 soft roader, he mentioned that like the TUV300, Mahindra will continue its trend of making tough and rugged vehicles albeit with comfortable and plush, car-like features.
As per reports, Mahindra S101 will be going to be a mini-SUV to compete with Maruti's tall-boy WagonR and is expected to make its India debut in January 2016 before the Auto Expo.
Under the hood, the S101 is expected to include 1.2-litre diesel and petrol mills. While the petrol mill of the Mahindra S101 is likely to be an all-new engine developed by the company, the diesel mill could be the watered-down version of 1.5-litre mHawk engine.
Mahindra has already launched 4 new models since the start of this fiscal and intends on launching Mahindra S101 micro-SUV and the Mahindra Verito Electric before the end of this current financial year.
Speaking about the company's upcoming models, Shah stated," In FY-2016, we have launched the products we had planned. And there is more in store. We will be launching a couple of new products before the end of this financial year."
BW Reporters
The author is Senior Correspondent with BW Businessworld
