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One of Mahindra & Mahindra's oldest warhorses, Scorpio, has managed to not only stay ahead of rival Renault Duster but it has extended its lead over the French model in the first quarter of the current financial year.
Scorpio sold 11,943 units during the April-June period as against 10,296 units of Dusters sold by Renault during the same period. From 1,041 units quarterly average lead last year Scorpio has widened the gap with Duster to 1,647 units during the reporting quarter.
Scorpio, which is in its twelfth year of production is the second largest selling four-wheeler in Mahindra's basket after the ageing Bolero multi-purpose vehicle. It regained the leadership position in sports utility vehicle segment after Duster dethroned it briefly in one of the months last year.
Pravin Shah, chief executive (automotive sector) Mahindra & Mahindra said: "Scorpio as a product offers much more than competition. The vehicle is a proven true blue SUV whereas the competition is not. Overall cost of ownership is quiet attractive with the Scorpio. With over 270 sales and service outlets the amount of network M&M has is not comparable with competition."
According to data supplied by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers last year Scorpio sales closed at 50,949 units (averaging 4,245 units per month), slightly better than 50,168 units sold in year ended March 31, 2013.
While the Duster is available with the option between petrol and diesel engines the Scorpio is sold only with diesel engine. The petrol Duster undercut the M&M model by more than Rs 40,000 in Mumbai last year but its diesel variant is nearly Rs 68,000 dearer than the Scorpio.
However, a consistent increase in prices by Renault including 1% increase from July 1 made the Duster more expensive than the Scorpio. Presently while the BSIV version of the Scopio is sold at Rs 7.78 lakh the Duster comes at more than Rs 8 lakh.
Duster, which was launched in July 2012, saw sales grow 19% to 46,786 units last year as against 39,188 units (in nine months) sold till March 31, 2013. When contacted Renault did not comment for the story. Though operating at a different level Ford's mini SUV EcoSport was close third with sales of little over 45,000 units last year.
Overall volumes in the utility vehicle segment declined by 5% to 5.25 lakh as against 5.53 lakh sold in 2012-13. The fall was due to levy of additional duty on the segment which as per government's efforts was done to curb sales of such 'gas guzzling' machines.
SUV's like Scorpio had to face an additional 3% excise duty levied last year sporting engines larger than 1,500 cc or with a ground clearance of more than 170 mm. Further, periodic rise diesel prices and general inflation eroded demand for the segment.
The two companies were partners before they decided to go separate ways a few years ago. Both joint made the sedan Logan (rechristened Verito) from a M&M-owned manufacturing unit in Nashik.
