Mahindra to Fiat Chrysler: Nah, We're Selling Our Little Jeepy-Jeep Thing

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

There’s an Indo-Italian-American battle heating up in Michigan. Mahindra and Mahindra, maker of the absolutely adorable, U.S.-built Roxor ATV, is fighting back against Fiat Chrysler’s efforts to squash the little all-terrain vehicle’s future in this country.

FCA’s beef is this: the generously proportioned ATV, which is not road legal here (but is in India), bears a striking resemblance to a classic Jeep CJ7. At the beginning of the month, the automaker filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in an bid to stop the importation of Roxor parts to the company’s Michigan factory.

Not gonna happen, Mahindra says. You saw our grille and you gave it the thumbs up.

According to Reuters, Mahindra isn’t having any of this patent violation kerfuffle. The company announced Wednesday that it is seeking an injunction to stop FCA’s complaint, calling it “without merit.”

In a press release, Mahindra said it filed a public interest statement with the ITC on August 22nd, in which it explains why the powers that be should rule in its favor.

Mahindra said it “demonstrated that the ROXOR is a vehicle that was always intended only as an off-road vehicle, does not compete with Fiat vehicles, is manufactured and assembled in the first OEM plant to be built in Michigan, USA, in the last 25 years, was the result of more than three years of research and development, and categorically rejected the notion that the ROXOR was an imported low quality ‘knock-off’ kit car.”

A day after issuing its statement, Mahindra filed a complaint with the Federal Court of Michigan, seeking an injunction on the grounds that a 2009 agreement between the two companies forbids FCA from going after the Roxor. Mahindra claims FCA agreed “to never bring such claims if we use a grille that they approved.”

“The Roxor uses that grille,” Mahindra wrote. “We are also arguing that Fiat is using the ITC case to harm our Roxor business by creating negative publicity, damaging our reputation and our stature in the marketplace.”

With a price similar to that of an entry-level car, the Roxor splits the difference between smaller ATVs and road-legal brush busters. The vehicle employs a 62-horsepower diesel four-cylinder and a conventional five-speed manual transmission.

[Images: Mahindra and Mahindra]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • TheBrandler TheBrandler on Aug 30, 2018

    Where the hell do you even use this thing? Can't drive it on the road, and to big to fit on standard ATV trails - what's the actual point of this thing?

    • See 1 previous
    • Gtem Gtem on Sep 02, 2018

      A) People with some acreage B) People who currently trailer Jeeps to offroad parks. I would absolutely pick this over a modern side-by-side, just way more fun to bounce along in an old school Jeep.

  • Flipper35 Flipper35 on Aug 30, 2018

    You can drive it on secondary roads in WI. Don't even need a license. You can also drink and drive in it in some counties which I think is the stupidest idea they could come up with.* *The speed limit for all ATVs and SxS vehicles is 30mph. Like that makes a difference.

  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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