The importer, TMI Pacific, will be announcing the retail price structure and the dealer network at the vehicle's launch.

Interestingly, TMI Pacific asked questions of its field day participants a few months ago about the origin of the Mahindra. The Indian origin is viewed as having little or no concern amongst participants. This result is no suprise to me, given that the few products from Indian that are available in Australia are regarded well. The Indian way of business suggests value is appreciated, implying that production costs and profits are balanced. That way consumers obtain value from their acquisitions. The same is unlikely to said about products from China, for example, where profit motives force pressure on reducing costs (labour, material and production), thus supplying goods to the market with low cost and high profit and, therefore, poor value in so many cases.

“When we took the Mahindra Pik-Up to Australian National Field Days in Orange late last year, and continued to conduct further consumer research this year, we noticed that the origin of the vehicle was not a factor when commenting on whether they (the participants at the field days) would consider it the next time they were in the market for a light commercial vehicle,” says Michael Tynan, Chairman of TMI Pacific.

“We found that a massive 89% of the in-depth interview participants who test drove the car would quite likely to ‘definitely consider’ it in their next purchasing effort, particularly if the ute was to provide reliability, comfort and value for money.”

Attributes noted by these participants were the head and leg room, interior space, size of back tray, the ease of getting in and out, the body paint and finish, the performance and the versatility of use.