Mahindra plans to introduce a new hatchback based on its Verito sedan in the September of this year. The company aims to sell the new hatchback around 3000 units per month. The car is also expected to retain the Renault sourced K9K, 1,461cc turbo diesel engine.
Regarding this, Mr.Arun Malhotra, Senior vice-president, sales and customer care of M&M informed that “We had launched the Verito in 2007 in collaboration with Renault, which had a 41 per cent stake in the joint venture. In 2009, Mahindra bought over Renault’s stake fully. At that time, the vehicle was selling only 350 units a month. We turned that around to sell 5,300 vehicles a month in 2009-10 and by 2010-11, sales climbed to 10,100 units, marking a growth of 86 per cent. In 2011-12, we sold 17,980 Veritos.”
He said that they have plans for Verito. They will launch a hatchback version of the car four months from now. He added that they are known to be commercial vehicles and SUV-makers. They do not have the expertise or the technology for sub-compact vehicles. Malhotra finally concluded that company’s Nasik plant would continue to manufacture all variants of the Verito, including the upcoming hatchback.