Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), the largest Utility Vehicle (UV) maker of the country, is looking ahead to record some decent sales figures by beating the industry growth in the second half of fiscal 2013. The announcement was made on the back of upcoming pick up from the company’s stable on which the auto maker has pinned high hopes.
The auto maker has confirmed the fact that its sales had been abruptly hit in the first half of current fiscal mainly due to poor rain in Maharashtra and South India, which had affected the sales of tractors in the country. Owing to this, the auto maker has marked a fall of five per cent in its tractor sales in India. However, the company said that it is quite optimistic for witnessing good times in the near future as the monsoon has picked up in the abovementioned regions.
The Senior Vice President (Marketing) at Farm Equipment Sector, Sanjeev Goyle said that the industry is planning to record a growth of 2 to 5 per cent in the second half of fiscal 2013 and M&M is planning to do even better. In the first half of ongoing fiscal, the auto maker delivered 1.03 lac units in the country despite of sluggish demand from its significant markets.
In order to increase its market presence in Andra Pradesh, wherein it has grabbed a share of 37 per cent, the UV maker has appointed Mahesh Babu, the Telugu film star, as its brand ambassador for the respective state. On this move, Goyle said “The plan is to ramp up our market share to 40 per cent from the current 37 per cent.”
This deal with Babu signifies a strong concentration of M&M over the auto market of Andra Pradesh and its sturdy progress towards carving a decent brand image among the new generation farmers. He further added, “AP is a critical market for Mahindra and our products are designed to suit the needs of this market. The Bhoomiputra 475 and 575 tractors have the largest user base in Andhra.”
