Mahindra on track to launch U.S. truck in 2009

DETROIT (Reuters) - Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd is set to launch a small pickup truck next year in the United States under its flagship brand as it looks to boost business in the world's largest vehicle market.

Mahindra, which already sells tractors to U.S. farmers and has three local assembly plants, is also in talks with General Motors Corp about possibly buying its Hummer SUV brand, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The company will sell a Mahindra-badged diesel pickup truck through Alpharetta, Georgia-based distributor Global Vehicles U.S.A., which has signed more than 315 dealers to sell it, said Xavier Beguiristain, vice president of marketing at Global Vehicles.

"We are absolutely on track," Beguiristain said, adding that the 2010 model-year pickup truck is expected to be in showrooms in the second half of 2009.

Mahindra is currently talking to companies about assembling the vehicle in the United States and plans to apply for regulatory approvals in January, Beguiristain said.

The yet-to-be-named compact pickup will be the first Indian vehicle to be launched in the U.S. market. Mahindra also plans to add its best-selling Scorpio SUV and at least one other vehicle, possibly a diesel hybrid SUV, to the U.S. line-up.

"We have to penetrate the pickup truck market first and we have to leave the door open for what's coming next," Beguiristain said.

Formed in 1945 to make Willys Jeeps in India, Mahindra has cornered nearly half of India's market for utility vehicles and is the world's No. 4 tractor maker. But it is among the smaller automakers in the global market.

Mahindra pickup trucks are already sold in several countries, including Brazil, South Africa and Australia.

New York-based ad agency Strawberry Ford has been retained to promote Mahindra's U.S. pickup truck. More than $50 million will be spent annually on advertising, Beguiristain said.

Mahindra is launching the pickup at a time when Americans are shifting away from light trucks, including pickups, SUVs and vans toward more fuel-efficient passenger cars.

All three Detroit-based automakers, which dominate the U.S. pickup truck market, have cut truck production and closed factories because of weak demand.

But Beguiristain said the Mahindra truck was well-placed for current market conditions since it is expected to have an average fuel efficiency of about 30 miles per gallon.

(Additional reporting by Jui Chakravorty Das; Editing by Braden Reddall)