M&M to invest Rs 100cr for M-Hawk upgrade

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra today said it would be investing an additional Rs 100 crore on upgradation of its new diesel engine 'M-Hawk' to make it compliant with US emission norms in the next one year.

The company, which has earmarked Rs 200 crore for the development of the M-Hawk diesel engine, is working on various upgrades to meet different emission standards such as Bharat Stage IV and Euro IV, besides the US standard -- T2B5, the most stringent globally at present.

"We are working on making the M-Hawk engine T2B5 compliant for the US market in the next one year," M&M president (automotive) Pawan Goenka said at the Auto Expo. He said once the T2B5 compliant engine is ready the company would launch its SUV Scorpio in the US market by the middle of 2009. The 2.2 litre diesel engine, with 120 HP, will have two power upgrades.

M&M started working on the upgradation process nine months back, he said, adding that Bharat Stage IV compliant engine would also be available by April 2010.

Goenka said the M-Hawk engine platform would power the future diesel vehicles from M&M stable."Typically, an engine's lifespan is between 10-12 years and we will keep developing upgrades on the M-Hawk for future vehicles," he said.

The company has started working on a global SUV that will hit the market by 2010, while the new Scorpio already sports the M-Hawk engine.