The cars are old models and are facing plummeting sales, Mahindra also wants to concentrate on utility vehicles.
The world is moving towards SUVs and even smaller cars like the Renault Kwid take design inspiration from them. Mahindra has taken quick notice of this trend and hence will be axing its Verito sedan and Verito Vibe hatchback models from the India line-up. The company will be focussing on its new concept ‘World of SUVs’ which will see it concentrate more on utility vehicles.
Mahindra Verito and Verito Vibe have seen a considerable drop in their sales numbers. This is largely because none of them have a feature list, exterior or engine to match with the competition which has moved ahead with time. The Verito came through the Mahindra-Renault alliance and can even be called a rebadged version of the Renault Logan. With companies like Maruti offering a sedan and a hatchback variant of a single model, Mahindra too decided to bring in the Verito Vibe, which too didn’t get the sales chart ticking.
Talking about sales, the Mahindra Verito sold 721 units in the FY 2018 as compared to 3136 units it sold in the FY 2017. This is a fall of 77 percent. This number will likely come down further as from April to July this year, the company has sold only 207 units of the Verito. But considering that the Mahindra Verito Vibe sold only four units in FY 2018, the Verito sedan seems to be doing alright. Production of the Vibe was halted in late 2016.
Neither are the Mahindra Verito models selling well, nor is the company interested in keeping the name alive. Mahindra has even said that they won’t be making the cars BS6 emission norms ready as it just doesn’t want to spend time, money and energy on vehicles that don’t profit the company. However, the e-Verito, which the company might even supply to the Government isn’t going anywhere for the time being. The future is electric and Mahindra wants a piece of it.
The company, in its move to enter the premium segment will be working closely with Pininfarina which is an Italian Design and Engineering company. Mahindra even owns 76 percent stake in it which has also posted record earnings for the FY 2017-2018. Considering that Pininfarnia has worked closely with companies like Rolls-Royce, Ferrari and Maserati, it will be exciting to see what Mahindra comes up with.
By axing the Verito models, Mahindra has also streamlined its India portfolio to be completely taken up by utility vehicles like the XUV500, TUV300, KUV100 and others. The upcoming Marazzo and XUV700 too are MPV and SUV respectively. The car manufacturer has also begun altering its dealerships to reflect the SUV theme and will be constructing a Prime Zone for its premium models.
Mahindra Verito Discontinued
– The Verito and Verito Vibe aren’t selling enough to keep them in production
– The two will be soon phased out from the Indian market
– Mahindra will now concentrate only on utility and premium vehicles
Source – AutocarIndia.com
