US ARMY: HUMMER… INDIAN ARMY:HUMMER?
Everyone strives for their share of the Great American Dream, even if they are not American! And that should explain why two of India’s biggest companies are fighting for the ownership of General Motor’s ‘HUMMER’ brand.
According to Just-Auto an ‘unnamed official’ at Mahindra has said that "Mahindra is very keen on acquiring the Hummer". The other company is said to be (the one that is possibly going after every brand in the world) - Tata. Mahindra and Tata have, both, been similar-minded on the whole acquisition scene with them showing interest in bidding for Jaguar and Land Rover (both European but owned by Ford) and the right to own Italian motorcycle manufacturer MV Agusta. Jaguar and Land Rover, like almost all other companies that they bid for, fell into Tata’s lap. As for this new desire to get HUMMER, probably the most American of all American cars, we’ll have to wait and watch.
It would certainly be interesting to see Mahindra get HUMMER… for simple reasons:
· HUMMER is the car for the American army.
· Mahindra’s Jeep is its equivalent for India’s.
· In the SUV market, Tata’s got the good old Safari, the stunningly revamped Sumo and now to top it all off, Land Rover!
· On Mahindra’s side, we have the unbeatable Scorpio, the reliable Bolero and if it works out… HUMMER.
(you can count the good old jeep in it if you want, although its high time for an upgrade)
It would just keep the competition levelled and plus, I would really love to see the army get its hands on some HUMMERS!
It could still be wishful thinking though, since none of the companies have made an official statement on the same. The best we got is, the fact that General Motors is having meetings with its dealers regarding all the possibilities for its HUMMER brand. The reason for this may be the 60.2% dip in sales it saw in May ‘08, compared to May ‘07. Let’s also not forget the rising oil prices that can’t be helping the situation much for the car that falls in the worse group for fuel economy (actually that is a point even Mahindra may have to work on… if they get it, that is.).
Mahindra, moving on, also has plans to launch itself in the American car market in the coming few years. They’ve planned a four-cylinder diesel pick-up that was earlier named Appalachian (??!!) but reports say they have dropped the name and plan to go with something alpha-numeric. It will be galloping around 150 horses of power with its displacement standing at 2.2 litres. Its engine has been produced exclusively for the US with the help of Bosch and AVL. The car is expected to be hitting the American market by the end of 2009. (if they get HUMMER by then, their tag line can be: we paid you a lot of money, now we are here to make some back!)
Coming back to the Tata, their interest may have died down a bit after the big purchases it has already made. Mahindra’s unnamed source has been heard, sounding enthusiastic as ever (I can understand, I would be too!), saying that, "The U.S. market might not be able to afford their own HUMMER any longer, but India is a growing and strong economy. When Indians like something we go out and get it, no matter what the cost, because we know how to make it work for us."
So, are these my isolated feelings or maybe its all of us who want the competition going and more Hummer's on the Indian roads with the army's camouflage colours? What say?
wont the Hummer be too expensive for the Indian army. lazyblogger
wow! brother! Hummers for the army??!!
it would really be great to see man. especially since right now the only people driving the 'imported' Hummers on our roads are people like (the greatest singer of all time)... Mika! (the rakhi sawant kisser) hehehe...
to lazyblogger
well yeah it will be expensive thats why i said that mahindra is still trying to work it out. Knowing mahindra if it starts production of hummer in india the costs may go down. they wont import it for our army yaar! the image i have used is of mahindra axe.
you should check out the customized models of mahindra
click here Mahindra customisation.
Neil
Btw i think mahindra has canned the idea of acquiring hummer because of the recession. I hope they get their hands on 2008 HUMMER H2 SUV Adventure