M&M's strategy to regain market share: Phase out Xylo, launch 3 vehicles

Homegrown utility vehicles (UV) maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has some new vehicle launches in the pipeline that may help the company to regain its market share. According to the company, a vehicle codenamed U321 MPV is scheduled for launch this year. Other news reports suggest that the company will be launching two more new UVs by the end of this financial year.

The U321 will be positioned below XUV 5OO in their product line up, and is expected to compete with the likes of Tata Hexa and Toyota Innova. The car is likely to use the same engines that power the XUV 5OO. Second, Mahindra is planning to launch a sports utility vehicle (SUV) based on Tivoli platform to rival the likes of premium SUVs like Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour. The third anticipation is about the XUV Aero concept that Mahindra showcased in 2014 Auto Expo in Greater Noida. Aero is the coupe version of Mahindra's flagship SUV, XUV 5OO.

According to the news reports, Mahindra will also be phasing out Xylo which currently is the only available MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) in the M&M stable, though no confirmation has been provided by the company yet. Nor did it confirm the launch of other two vehicles. Once a volume maker for Mahindra, Xylo has witnessed a tremendous dip in sales since in last couple of years. In the June 2017 quarter, Xylo saw an 8 per cent decline in its sales compared to the previous quarter. In Q4 FY17, Mahindra sold 1,840 units of Xylo, which came down to 1,641 in Q1 of FY18. In June 2017, Mahindra sold just 264 units of Xylo. On the other hand, Maruti sold 4,895 units of Ertiga in June 2017 which is Xylo's main rival in the segment.

Recently, Mahindra, whose product line up is dominated by UVs, has lost its pole position to India's largest car maker, Maruti. Products such as Vitara Brezza and Ertiga have outperformed Mahindra by way of volumes. In the June quarter, Mahindra's market share dropped down to 27.92 per cent from 29.2 per cent in FY17, Maruti's share in this period climbed to 30.5 per cent from 27.2 per cent in the UV segment.

From a peak of 55.59 per cent in 2011-12, Mahindra has continued to lose market share in the UV segment.

Mahindra India