Mahindra: Going global

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">Having impressed the Indian car market with Scorpio, Mahindra & Mahindra MD <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Anand Mahindra</span> is now planning to sting the international market. Taking time between his globe trotting as CII president, Mahindra spoke with <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Byas Anand</span> about Scorpio''s overseas sojourn and the company''s new initiatives.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">With Pakistan opening up for trade, does M&M view it as an emerging market?</span><br /><br />Clearly, Pakistan is a lucrative market.The advantage is that it is very similar to India. In our discussions with the Pakistani businessmen recently, we realised that there is a new-found purchasing power in the country and supply has not been able to keep pace. They have a two-year waiting period for the Honda City. Finally, I do see M&M starting trade with Pakistan.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">You had also been targeting other markets like Russia and China...</span><br /><br />With Russia, we are still examining the locations for an assembly unit. We have already put in place our JV with Sun. I am going to Russia again soon, and hope to finalise something. As for China, we realise it is a market that has to be addressed very slowly and carefully. It''s one project that''s not going to take off so fast.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">When will Scorpio''s global sojourn start?</span><br /><br />The most important thing on the ground now is that we are launching our vehicles in Italy this month. We will be exporting our vehicles to Italy. We have already appointed a distributor in the market and will also be launching our pick-ups and Bolero.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">You had planned to import and sell some high-end passenger cars in India...</span><br /><br />We studied the market with the Lotus Elise sports car and Proton Waja luxury car. But we have since altered our strategy and decided to remain focussed on utility vehicles in the Indian market. And so, we''ve dropped plans to get these niche market models into India.</div> </div>