HAH!

Come on, you would simply HAVE TO just paint it on the hood and doors in white paint or pinstripe tape!

I hope they figure that out before they bring it here because I would really be interested in buying this truck if I haven’t gotten a cheap F-150 by then, you know for well under $20K.

I don’t want to sound too negative – I am glad there will finally be a true small pickup in the US – but Mahindra faces some formidable obstacles with the launch of this truck.

So you believe those were imported VW, Nissan, Toyota, Fiat, and Honda cars? I bet they were made in China. The import tariff (25%) makes importing cars very uninteresting.

I think the goofy looks will work to its advantage. It’s not atrocious looking, just peculiar, and it has an air of serious utility about it. That will help to set it apart from other small trucks.

Mahindra’s strength lay in farm country and the folks who are already familiar with their products. The Mahindra name is actually well known in rural America primarily due to the quality of their tractors. If the folks who actually use a truck for it’s intended purpose embrace this pickup, the suburban and city dwellers will consider it a viable product.

Otherwise it’s just another questionable name with an unproven product. Those don’t sell well in recessions regardless of how good the automaker is in the quality game. Just ask Daihatsu.

The time is ripe for a modern day “people’s car.” Focus like a lasar beam on practicality, reliability and versatility. Forget annual model changes and unnecessary technology. Adopt a strikingly honest marketing campaign. Saturn-style pricing wouldn’t hurt.

The key is to stick with this basic philosophy for the long haul rather than lapsing into me-tooism after a few years.

No doubt, though — I think the market is INCREDIBLY ripe for small pickups like the 1970’s Toyotas and Datsuns. Something like that with great mileage and around 10 to 12 grand? How could something like that be too difficult to pull off, and gosh wouldn’t it sell like hotcakes?

Their timing on diesel isn’t all that good either. Normally, I would say it’s a great idea, but they had better have a competitive cost per mile or forget about it.

It would have been nice if they had forgotten the 50-state legality issue and just not bothered with the draconian requirements for diesels in CA-emissions states. Still, maybe if it is possible to chip this thing to up the HP and torque considerably without having to disable/remove/alter sensors those of us living in emissions-law free states could have not only an inexpensive and durable work horse of a truck, but one that can double as a fuel-efficient hot-rod as well.

If you are reading this, please consider me for your testing programme. That is, hand me the keys to one of your fine pickups so I can see firsthand how well my motherland’s truck can handle life in America.

Sincerely,
Mehta-bhai

I agree, worthy of a test drive for sure.

This looks really promising. I’d certainly give it a test drive.

This is a very no profit segment. But the domestics consider it a stepping stone to larger trucks.

The India assembly will ensure that at least it’s cheap to manufacture. But as with all imports, the U.S. market is a tough nut.

Isuzu offered a great small diesel pick up. Didn’t sell.

That Indian diesel pickup seems to hit the spot. If it’s reliable and get a decent MPG, it will find itself in an more or less empty market niche and will sell well.

I approve of that stance; that’s much stronger than anything I’ve heard from the Chinese automakers and their “we’d-make-cars-from-papier-mache-if-they’d-let-us” approach.

I would have thought they would enter the US market with a cheap sturdy gasoline pickup, though.