Mahindra on track to launch U.S. truck in 2009

By Poornima Gupta

DETROIT (Reuters) - Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd is set to launch a small pickup truck next year in the United States under its flagship brand as it looks to boost business in the world's largest vehicle market.

Mahindra, which already sells tractors to U.S. farmers and has three local assembly plants, is also in talks with General Motors Corp about possibly buying its Hummer SUV brand, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The company will sell a Mahindra-badged diesel pickup truck through Alpharetta, Georgia-based distributor Global Vehicles U.S.A., which has signed more than 315 dealers to sell it, said Xavier Beguiristain, vice president of marketing at Global Vehicles.

"We are absolutely on track," Beguiristain said, adding that the 2010 model-year pickup truck is expected to be in showrooms in the second half of 2009.

Mahindra is currently talking to companies about assembling the vehicle in the United States and plans to apply for regulatory approvals in January, Beguiristain said.

The yet-to-be-named compact pickup will be the first Indian vehicle to be launched in the U.S. market. Mahindra also plans to add its best-selling Scorpio SUV and at least one other vehicle, possibly a diesel hybrid SUV, to the U.S. line-up.

"We have to penetrate the pickup truck market first and we have to leave the door open for what's coming next," Beguiristain said.

Formed in 1945 to make Willys Jeeps in India, Mahindra has cornered nearly half of India's market for utility vehicles and is the world's No. 4 tractor maker. But it is among the smaller automakers in the global market.