Will it ever end? Hot on the heels of the announcement by Global Vehicles that it had placed a $35 million order for U.S. spec Mahindra Pik-Ups; Mahindra has now issued a statement declaring the order ‘invalid’ and accusing Global Vehicles of theatrics and working hard at attempts to damage its reputation in the U.S.
Mahindra is also sticking fast to its claims that the contract between it and Global has expired and it is free to pursue its own channels of distribution for the trucks in the U.S. In fact, P. N. Shah, Chief Executive of Mahindra’s International Division; Farm & Automotive, stated that; ”Mahindra’s goal remains to bring its vehicles to the U.S. market, satisfying the desires of U.S. consumers and dealers alike.” Quite how they’re going to do that remains to be seen. The saga continues…
Official press release after the jump:
PRESS RELEASE
Mahindra rejects any attempt by Global Vehicles to order Mahindra vehicles as it is invalid
Mumbai, September 27, 2010
Mahindra announced that it had received and was rejecting an invalid order for pick-up trucks from former distributor Global Vehicles USA, Inc. Mahindra views this order as another example of Global Vehicles’ policy of engaging in PR theatrics while pursuing an unnecessary lawsuit. This is Global Vehicles’ continued attempt to manipulate the press to damage Mahindra’s reputation. Mahindra also believes that this is an attempt by Global Vehicles to distract Mahindra from pursuing other plans to bring its vehicle to the US market.
As stated in Mahindra’s September 24 statement, the contract with Global Vehicles has expired. In light of this fact, Mahindra will be contacting U.S. dealers to make other arrangements for
distribution. Mr. P N Shah, Chief Executive, International division, Automotive & Farm Equipment sector said, “Mahindra’s goal remains to bring its vehicles to the US market, satisfying the desires of US consumers and dealers alike.”