Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) today launched the SsangYong Rexton, a high-end luxury sports utility vehicle (SUV) in the Gujarat market, as a part of its phase-wise launch of the product. The company has already delivered over 400 Rextons since November.
Ashish Malik, vice president, SUVs, Reva and Market Research, marketing of M&M said that the high end SUV segment has doubled in the last two years and currently stands at around 30,000 units per annum. The space is dominated by the Toyota Fortuner which enjoys a 50-55% market share.
The Rexton is getting manufactured at the company's Chakan plant, which has an annual capacity of 5,000 units of the vehicle per annum working in single shift. The company has recently increased the capacity to 500 units per month as the Rexton currently has a wait-period of four to six weeks.
Malik said that the rate of penetration of SUVs in India is still low at 21% compared to 75% in Indonesia and 44% in the US and 50-55% in the UAE and Qatar.
Mahindra has recently ramped up capacities of the XUV500 and the Quanto at Chakan to 5000 units per month and 3,500 units per month respectively. The SUV segment is expected to grow by 12-14% during 2013-14.
