By Brendan Moore with Chris Haak
08.26.2008
Mahindra and Mahindra, the large Indian vehicle manufacturer, has informed its US distributor that it is pushing back its planned launch in the United States by six months in order to do more actual road-testing of its small truck, according to an article in Automotive News (paid subscription required).
The small truck will use a four-cylinder clean diesel engine that remains unapproved by the EPA in the US. The emissions requirements in the US become even stricter in 2010, but Mahindra’s public stance is that they are not concerned about the engine passing the tighter emissions requirements.
The delay of the launch of the first Indian auto manufacturer’s vehicles to sell in the US has nothing to do with concerns about EPA certification, from what Mahindra says. Nor does it have anything to do with drop in the light truck market in the US, states Mahindra, as their small trucks will achieve around 30 mpg. Mahindra simply wants to do more real-world testing in order to make certain all the bugs are out before launch in the world’s most competitive and most visible market.
