Mahindra Scorpio reported an increased sales in August 2013 as compared to its market competitor Renault Duster. This means that the battle to take crucial pole position in the automotive market now seems to be tilting in favour of Mahindra Scorpio in the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) segment. The heat felt by its rival Renault Duster with lesser sales in August 2013, as per experts, turns out to weigh more on the merit of some aggressive marketing by Mahindra and Mahindra. Notably, the situation was not the same to start off with, as sometime back Renault Duster had the lead in the SUV space. But now, Scorpio seems to have made a strong come back and this, as aforementioned, reflects in higher sales during the month. More likely, analysts are of a view that Mahindra & Mahindra would surely want to maintain the lead in the upcoming months too.
As per statistics, the rugged warhorse Scorpio has managed to pull off good sale numbers to perform better against fast selling Duster's monthly sales for the second consecutive month. However, in spite of this lead, Renault Duster continues to persist with better overall sales and consequently, still holds its number one position in the Indian automotive market in this fiscal year.
As far as sales are concerned, Mahindra & Mahindra has reported figures of over 3,356 units in August 2013 as compared to the 2,967 units of Duster. In the previous month too, Scorpio had outnumbered Duster by over 150 units. Notably, in July, Mahindra Scorpio witnessed a sale of 3,256 units while Duster stood at 3,089 units. However, for the period between January 2013 to July 2013, aggregated sales of Renault Duster sales stood at 36,545 units as against Scorpio's units of 32,867.
Pravin Shah, Chief Executive (automotive) of Mahindra & Mahindra, said that Scorpio has continued to witness a strong hold on the automotive market. Shedding light on the current market position of Scorpio, he said, "Scorpio is not getting a level playing field. In spite of the increased duty and sluggish market environment, the brand continues to hold on to its own, thanks to its overall SUV character of styling, performance and reliability.” The statement made by Shah indicates that the main reason behind the good show put on by Scorpio in July and August can be attributed to superior overall quality in terms of impressive design, high performance and reliability. Shah also added, “Despite increasing direct or indirect competition, Scorpio is delivering respectable volumes. We will continue to build on our volumes through facelifts, refreshes and by adding more features in the future.”
Sumit Sawhney, ED (Sales & Marketing), Renault India, on being approached showed reluctance as he refused to get into comparison statistics of Duster and Scorpio. When reached out, Sawhney was quoted as saying, "It would be unfair to compare both these products as they cater to different segments and attract different target customers, it is like comparing apples to oranges. Despite the SUV/UV market crashing, Duster numbers have remained steady." This comment may superficially seems like Renault is not willing to get into statistical details as both SUVs have a different target audience, but nonetheless, the heat is on, whether admitted or not.
