With apologies to the Beatles, it's been a long and winding road for those waiting to get their hands on the steering wheel of a small, diesel-powered pickup from Mahindra. Here's the good news: Something definitive has finally been heard from the Indian automaker. Here's the bad news: It's bad news.
According to Reuters, Mahindra "recently decided not to proceed further with the project due to changes in the U.S. regulatory and market situation." In other words, the truck we've long been expecting isn't going to happen. That said, "M&M will continue to monitor the U.S. situation and remain flexible with its approach to this market."
We won't outline all the sordid details on what happened between Global Vehicles, Mahindra and its would-be dealer base – read all about it on these pages – but suffice it to say delays were felt, feelings were hurt and lawsuits were filed.
Some analysts quoted by Reuters suggest Mahindra may regroup and focus on bringing its KoreanSsangyong subsidiary to the States in lieu of its rugged pickup and SUV wares, but we're not holding our breath for either.
According to Reuters, Mahindra "recently decided not to proceed further with the project due to changes in the U.S. regulatory and market situation." In other words, the truck we've long been expecting isn't going to happen. That said, "M&M will continue to monitor the U.S. situation and remain flexible with its approach to this market."
We won't outline all the sordid details on what happened between Global Vehicles, Mahindra and its would-be dealer base – read all about it on these pages – but suffice it to say delays were felt, feelings were hurt and lawsuits were filed.
Some analysts quoted by Reuters suggest Mahindra may regroup and focus on bringing its KoreanSsangyong subsidiary to the States in lieu of its rugged pickup and SUV wares, but we're not holding our breath for either.
2 comments:
Bummer, diesels offer a nice stopgap between gas guzzlers and hybrids (and they often offer better mpg than hybrids marketed in the past decade).
Consider ourselves lucky.
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