When something that sounded too good to be true (say a cheap, compact, diesel-powered pickup) keeps getting delayed, you eventually just make your peace with the whole “too good to be true” part. That’s the only explanation for our recent lapse in Mahindra coverage: the news is depressing enough as it is. We last updated our Mahindra tag back in December, with news that a “Middle Spring” launch would be the latest of several delays for the Indian pickup venture. A news clipping [PDF] touting a March launch is still available at the Mahindra USA website. The latest from an actual human being? Mahindra’s US distributor John Perez tells Automotive News [sub]:
Hyundai made a proposal to Chrysler earlier this year under which the U.S. automaker would build a truck for Hyundai based on Chrysler’s Ram truck platform… Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne rebuffed Hyundai’s initial approach in February… saying the automaker needs to focus on its established turnaround plans under Fiat SpA. But Hyundai continues to look at truck options and could come back to Chrysler, according to two of those with knowledge of the talks, who were not authorized to discuss the matter because the closed-door discussions were preliminary.
Ram sales were down 23 percent last month, down 20 percent calendar-year-to-date, and down 24.3 percent in rolling 12-month totals. Hyundai is doing just fine without a pickup. Chrysler may have been crazy to turn down a shot at easy volume (that might have gone to Nissan), but Hyundai would be crazier still to ask a second time. After all, Volkswagen’s Chrysler rebadge, the Routan minivan, has sold only 14,580 units in the last 12 months.
Hyundai is riding high. They’re being thought of in the same vein as Honda in terms of quality, the same as Ford in terms of value and the same as Toyota in terms of reliability. So what could be left for Hyundai to do? They want you to think of them as a … (Read More…)
History does tend to repeat itself, especially in the car business. Detroit’s more recent efforts to compete with import compact trucks was once a serious undertaking, and is now quickly dwindling away to nothing. The same thing happened once before, in the early sixties. In response to real (or imagined) incursions into the light truck field by imports, Detroit launched a barrage of new compact vans and trucks. Ford was the most prolific in the 1960-1961 period, offering no less than three distinct types of pickups. The most creative and nontraditional one was the Econoline pickup. Not surprisingly, it was the least successful (of Ford’s three types), and petered out after a few years. Americans know how they like their Ford trucks, and the Econoline was not it (Read More…)
Truck marketing is so out of ideas. Despite a few hesitant signs that the old “bigger, stronger, butcher” paradigm might be giving way to less primitive appeals to consumers, GM’s Tom Stephens has dragged truck marketing back to the stone age, issueing the following challenge to Ford [via Pickuptrucks.com].
You’re going to love our new diesel Duramax engine in the new Heavy Duty. You know what I want to do to prove it? I want to take our truck and Ford’s [new Super Duty] and chain them together back -to-back. Then I want to have them pull against each other. I know our truck will beat theirs.
Pickuptrucks.com has passed the memo on to Ford, in hopes of spawning a “V-Series Challenge”-type media stunt. Too bad it will never happen. When the trucks are evenly-matched, these contests tend to come down to driver skill, timing and luck. And what would that prove? Note to GM: if you want to market your trucks in wholly unoriginal ways, leave reality out of it and just make an ad showing your truck kicking the other trucks asses or mocking owners of competing brands. You know, the way the good lord intended trucks to be marketed. These guys have it figured out.
Not long ago we wondered what the hell Mahindra was up to, as the Indian firm had delayed its US launch seemingly indefinitely. Thanks to Pickuptrucks.com, we’ve learned that Mahindra still has yet to file paperwork for federal standards compliance, and that the launch date for its diesel Pickup has been pushed back to the nebulous date of “middle spring 2010.” Federal testing is complete, but Mahindra won’t submit compliance paperwork to the feds until January. The company reckons this bureaucratic hurdle will be complete by February, clearing the way for a product launch sometime around April. According to pickuptrucks.com, Mahindra will be offering two-door and four-door versions of its pickup at launch, both powered by a 2.2 liter diesel engine. Mahindra intends for its trucks to achieve 30 mpgs and 1.3 ton hauling capacity.
The Argentinian-produced Volkswagen Amarok pickup might be coming to the US if VW thinks it can sell enough of them. VW of America’s Stephan Jacoby tells pickuptrucks.com “we’d have to sell at least 100,000 Amarok pickups to make it feasible.” But don’t get too excited: the only compact pickup to sell in those numbers is the Toyota Tacoma, which sold 102,327 units year-to-date. (Read More…)
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