M&M eyes Tamil Nadu

Mahindra & Mahindra recently met officials of the Tamil Nadu government to ostensibly discuss the option of setting up a plant in the state. While there is no indication of which model will be manufactured here, it is quite obvious that the company needs a new facility simply because of capacity constraints imminent at the Nashik plant.

M&M has also virtually zeroed in on Tamil Nadu for its R&D centre. From the State’s point of view, it will mark yet another feather in its cap as far as automobile investments are concerned. Funnily enough, the first big ticket entry involved M&M which had entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Ford. Mahindra-Ford, as the company was then called, opted for Maramalainagar near Chennai but it was only a matter of time before the American partner took majority control. The company was rechristened Ford India and it is, of course, a wholly-owned subsidiary now.

Moving on with the M&M theme, speculation is rife that the company will produce the Ingenio multi-purpose vehicle in Tamil Nadu though this will be confined to Nashik for the moment. Reports indicate that talks are on with other states too and eventually the one that doles out the maximum sops will bag the project. This is precisely what the likes of Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal are doing now because they have realised that this is the only way to attract investments. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were smart enough to figure this out years ago and the rewards came in the form of Hyundai, Ford, Volvo and Toyota.

M&M, meanwhile, is gearing up to launch the Logan which marks its return to the car segment. It has reiterated, though, that this will be the only product in its joint venture with Renault. The fact that the French company has floated a 100 percent arm is also a clear indication of its intent. The success of the Logan in the market will depend a great deal on its pricing as well as the retail infrastructure for the car. It will be sold in the same showrooms as the Scorpio.