Mahindra & Mahindra: Building engineering prowess as an automaker
MUMBAI: It was an admittance of something gone wrong, but embedded in it
was something being done right. In March 2013, automaker Mahindra &
Mahindra announced it was recalling about 20,000 of its XUV500s because
of snags in their fluid hose, front power-window units and left
wiper-blade cover. For a vehicle that bore more of the Mahindra brains
than any other before, being fully designed and engineered by its
people, this was a test of the automaker's grey cells. According to the
company, it should finish resolving those issues in a month.
Earlier this month, those same growing engineering capabilities of one of India's two homegrown passenger car makers— the other being Tata Motors—were on show in a vehicle launch: that of the Verito Vibe. Even for a company that has launched seven models in the past six years, this was a design and engineering milestone of sorts. It was Mahindra's entry into a new segment - the compact sedan, a 1 million a year segment, competing against SuzukiBSE -1.57 % Swift and Toyota Etios Liva. Mahindra took the Logan, which it had built with Renault when the two were partners, reduced its size to below four metres so as to qualify it for lower taxes—and, hence, lower cost.
That launch and the rearguard action typify the expanding range and depth of Mahindra's engineering prowess: from boxy models like the Bolero that were only partly engineered by it (in 2000) to the curvy and dynamic XUV500 that was fully engineered by it (in 2011). Still, it's not quite there. "Mahindra needs to improve the finesse of its vehicles," says VG Ramakrishnan, managing director of Frost and Sullivan India, a consulting firm.
"The engineering prowess maybe was lower for a Bolero or an Armada compared to the XUV. But these vehicles were designed as off-roaders, allterrain vehicles, and clearly lack international standards." It's an assessment that Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra's automotive and farm business, does not have too many quibbles with. "We are just 15-years-old, starting from the Bolero, followed by the Scorpio and XUV," he says. "We have been through three product cycles and are still on a learning curve."
On this learning curve, and in its drive to become smarter and self-sufficient, Mahindra has beefed up its brains by acquiring companies: South Korea's Ssangyong, Italian design house GR Grafica Ricerca Design and Indian electric car marker Reva. It has set up a Rs 650 crore R&D centre in Chennai, with 32 labs and 2,200 employees, which delivered the XUV500 on a budget of Rs 750 crore.
Earlier this month, those same growing engineering capabilities of one of India's two homegrown passenger car makers— the other being Tata Motors—were on show in a vehicle launch: that of the Verito Vibe. Even for a company that has launched seven models in the past six years, this was a design and engineering milestone of sorts. It was Mahindra's entry into a new segment - the compact sedan, a 1 million a year segment, competing against SuzukiBSE -1.57 % Swift and Toyota Etios Liva. Mahindra took the Logan, which it had built with Renault when the two were partners, reduced its size to below four metres so as to qualify it for lower taxes—and, hence, lower cost.
That launch and the rearguard action typify the expanding range and depth of Mahindra's engineering prowess: from boxy models like the Bolero that were only partly engineered by it (in 2000) to the curvy and dynamic XUV500 that was fully engineered by it (in 2011). Still, it's not quite there. "Mahindra needs to improve the finesse of its vehicles," says VG Ramakrishnan, managing director of Frost and Sullivan India, a consulting firm.
"The engineering prowess maybe was lower for a Bolero or an Armada compared to the XUV. But these vehicles were designed as off-roaders, allterrain vehicles, and clearly lack international standards." It's an assessment that Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra's automotive and farm business, does not have too many quibbles with. "We are just 15-years-old, starting from the Bolero, followed by the Scorpio and XUV," he says. "We have been through three product cycles and are still on a learning curve."
On this learning curve, and in its drive to become smarter and self-sufficient, Mahindra has beefed up its brains by acquiring companies: South Korea's Ssangyong, Italian design house GR Grafica Ricerca Design and Indian electric car marker Reva. It has set up a Rs 650 crore R&D centre in Chennai, with 32 labs and 2,200 employees, which delivered the XUV500 on a budget of Rs 750 crore.
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