Mahindra & Mahindra, the largest utility vehicle maker of the country is planning to setup an assembly plant in South East Asia as a part of its future target to become a global player in the automotive scenario. The company could be is looking at Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia as prospective countries to setup the plant and it will be coming up in the next few years.
“SEA markets are important, big markets for M&M’s overseas growth and for expanding our global presence. We are at present in talks with various parties and evaluating the various possibilities for setting up base with appropriate business model,” Pravin Shah, chief executive, international operations, automotive and farm equipment sectors, said
Currently Mahindra exports its vehicles to countries like Malaysia and aims to increase its exports in the ASEAN region. The ASEAN countries is a big market when it comes to utility vehicles and currently the market size is more than 7, 00,000 units per annum. For tractors the current market volume is more than 55,000 units. This is the main reason Mahindra is eyeing the ASEAN markets and sees at least 15 to 20% of its total export volumes coming from these countries. In financial year 2010, the company had exported 17,000 units of utility vehicles and pick-ups and around 11,000 units of tractors. In the current fiscal year, the export volumes has grown by 69% in the utility vehicle segment while it has grown by 16% in the tractor segment. The company aims to double its revenue turnover to more than S1 billion by 2013. Apart from India the currently upcoming ASEAN country, the company has assembly plants in Brazil and Egypt also.
