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..although some US dealers might be nice! Indian firm Mahindra and Mahindra showed this tasty little neo-Willys at the recent Bologna auto show. The the 12-foot long, 1.5 ton off-roader concept sports a 2.5 liter diesel four, making 108 hp and 250 Nm. And since it is just a concept, that’s about all the info that Auto Motor und Sport could dig up.
16 Comments on “Mahindra: “We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Jeep Nameplate”...”
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What…is Cerebus so cash-strapped that they’ve decided to dust off their old prints to sell to the highest bidder? What next? A Tata variant of the Aries? Maybe Dongfeng will buy the rights to the Rampage…
Just a nit – I think you mean 250 Nm not 250 nm.
To bad US trademark laws would never let this be sold here. Same reason we couldn’t get the old BJ series Land Cruisers.
pete: Indeed that is what I meant. Thanks.
I’m fine with our trademark laws protecting owner’s rights. But hey, if they want to buy Jeep, go for it.
I don’t know… Trademark laws didn’t help Jeep in keeping a very Jeep-like grill off the Hummer H2.
Of course, this thing is nearasdamnit a dead ringer for the entire Jeep, not just the grill, so maybe there would be some recourse.
Mahindra has built and offered LICENSED “Jeeps” for almost 50 years. They are not illegal knock-offs. I think they even bought tooling and manufacturing equipment from [the owners of] Jeep decades ago.
Selling Indian made Jeeps in the US market, however unthinkable that was when the licensing agreement was established in the 1950’s, may be a different matter though. Even back then, I would not be surprised if the licensing agreement included language that prohibited the sale of the Indian made Jeeps in the US market.
threer: Mahindra & Mahindra got their start after WWII by assembling CKD Jeep kits imported from the US. In 1954 they started manufacturing their own version. This is not a new thing at all.
dean: The seven-slot grille on the Hummers comes from AM General, formerly part of AMC along with Jeep.
Neo-Willy ? More like Chili Willy if they intend introducing an open roof design at this time of year. No matter, being an Indian company I am sure they will come up with the ingredients to curry favor with American consumers.
Mahindra & Mahindra plan on selling small, bare bones, heavy duty, diesel, work pickups in the United States starting next year. They currently sell farm equipment here, and apparently such is well regarded from American farmers (I’m not a farmer, so who knows?), so that’s their initial market-farmers who actually need a work pickup.
http://www.mahindrana.com/
They are using their own brand and starting their own dealer network. I doubt they want castoffs from Detroit, although they have been a licensee of Jeep for many, many decades back in India as already mentioned.
Wow that is the best looking “Wrangler” I’ve ever seen. Sweet!
miked:
re: “To bad US trademark laws would never let this be sold here. Same reason we couldn’t get the old BJ series Land Cruisers.”
Mahindra is an Indian company, not a Chinese company; companies in the largest democracy in the world actually pay for the designs they use.
Even if the original licensing agreement prohibited US sale that would not be an issue now; any design or engineering patents on this Jeep have long since expired. It couldn’t say Jeep, and it might not be able to have a seven bar grille, but otherwise it would be in the clear.
It is not sold here, for better or worse, because of EPA emissions requirements and NHTSA safety regulations.
If you like the basic concept try to find a clean, well kept used Suzuki Samurai.
Furthermore, if I remember correctly, the engine in that baby is a prehistoric Mercedes-Benz OM616 (turboed).
There is unfortunately because of the archaic technolgy (albeit, bulletproof…) no chance in hell we’ll ever see this in the USA.
Cross your finger, maybe we see them in mexico.
T2: Groan!
These used to hold the record for the slowest 0-60 time in Europe – something north of 30 seconds I seem to remember.
30mpg or a payload of nearly 1800 lbs. I think they will find favor here. I have no interest in a full sized typical American truck. I could afford to drive a 30 mpg thing like that and be quite happy. Look out Detroit. Somebody else knocking on your door.