Ford EcoSport Rules Indian Auto Market; Scorpio Outsells Renault Duster

Mahindra's sports utility vehicle (SUV) Scorpio, which was launched in 2002 and upgraded in 2006, continues to find buyers and managed to outsell Renault Duster, in the last two months. 

According to a report by Economic Times, Mahindra sold 3,256 units of Scorpio in July and 3,356 units in August. In comparison, Renault sold 3,089 units of its SUV Duster in July and 2,967 units in August. However, Renault's Duster still leads in sales between January and July with 36,545 units as against Scorpio's 32,867 units.

Ford EcoSport, which received more than 30,000 bookings within the first 17 days of its launch in India on 26 June, continues to rule the Indian auto market in the SUV segment, selling 4,715 units in July and 5,372 units in August.

Ford India has suspended the bookings of its compact EcoSport SUV due to heavy demand, which could force prospective customers to look for other alternatives like Duster, Scorpio, Hyundai Grand i10, Nissan Micra, Honda Amaze etc. On top of that, only two of the 10 variants (the entry and middle variants of the diesel model) are currently on sale. The delivery date has been pushed to December and early next year, and the waiting period of some of the variants has been reportedly extended upto 12 months.

Meanwhile, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is planning to launch three or four new platforms in the next three years. "Most of our launches are in the UV segment. But now, we will expand our range to encompass both the lower and higher-end price segment of the market," Pawan Goenka, President-Automotive & Farm Equipment at M&M told ET Now.

M&M has recently announced the hike in the prices of its passenger as well as commercial vehicles by up to two percent, which would be in the range of ₹6,000 to ₹20,000, depending on the model and will be effective from 1 October, 2013.