I'll be the first.

[bradysplace]

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I called Global today with little hope of finding out anything new - but alas I got to speak to the Texas rep. for global/m&m. Really nice guy and took 20 mins out of his day to chat with me. Long story short - forget all the rumors, we are sticking to our guns. Look for the first delivery towards the very end of the first quarter. He described the estimated manufacture time, delivery time and dealer set up time with some detail - bottom line look for a April kick off. He said the "test drive" program will still be utilized. He outlined how the dealers and mech's would be trained and elaborated on the fact that M&M would have some engineers and mechanics based in the states. I asked about epa certification. He was very frank - not yet - he explained the process and felt that would not be a problem as M&M hired a London firm to duplicate all approval tests and the trucks passed each test prior to submission to the epa. He asked me to call him back after the beginning of the new year for an update. He seemed sincere and would only loose credibility if he was bsing me. He gave me the names of the Houston dealers etc. I am not a cool aid drinker and approach everything with the eye of a skeptic but his frankness about the good and the bad led me to believe he felt what he was telling me was the truth. Fingers crossed !!!!!!!

[pee wee]

thanks for some good information; it's too bad that someone has to call and ask questions before information is disseminated. I wonder if they have considered a forum to share information in, call it something like "Mahindra truck forum" or something? Speaking of in the dark, if things aren't kicking off until April, why is a dealer (Southpoint in Sarasota) still in the belief they are getting trucks in February? If I owned a dealership I would want to be the first to know what the latest time line was. Maybe April is the target for the Texas market, and May for Pennsylvania? ? ? ? . . . curious- at least all signs point to an actual introduction of the truck after all this time. If someone decides to order a truck, can they choose a color other than the four mentioned in the specs? They have other colors for other markets, what would be the big deal if they are being made in India to paint with a color they have on hand? I guess someone would have to call GV to find out.

[bradysplace]

Hi pee wee. Its only a guess on my part but global has had to push back the kick off date a few times now and I'm sure they would loose most peoples confidence if they did it yet another time. Considering the results of the US certification is not a done deal yet - my guess is they are playing it safe and just not saying anything to the public until all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed. Apparently there are approx 12 people in the global office and half of them were in India in prep for the US kick off. I still think its going to be a feat to get over 300 dealers, sales staff and mechanics trained. Buildings built where necessary. Clearly over 500 cars built (they are not starting assembly until Jan), put on a boat and shipped to Ga., then transported thru-out the US and enough spare parts delivered and stocked to support this new product - all in a 3-4 month time period. T&T has alot riding on this (assuming the trucks get US certification) and I hope they will not intro the truck before they can completely support it. The US auto press probably wouldn't treat M&M so kindly!

[pee wee]

You are right that it is a huge job to steer a new line of vehicles through all the steps necessary to be a success in a foreign country (that is us to the Indians). I think the people who have shown an interest in these trucks would not lose confidence in a company that deals openly with what facts they have. I'm not saying they should state "trucks will be at location x on date y, but something along the lines of "there are two major steps remaining before we ship vehicles, x and y; step x is completing final testing. We are currently working with the dealers to set up training for sales and service personnel, and we continue to study options for moving manufacturing to the U.S. when the time is appropriate." Etc., etc. In my example they haven't set up any expectations of definite timing, but they are saying "we are here, glad you're interested, and we're working on it as hard as we can". Is that so much to ask?

P.S.: we're kind of working under the wrong thread, I hope our forum officers will be lenient.

[lonnie.maynard]

Sorry to continue this on the wrong thread, but the dealer here in Colorado (Pete Tynan) just verified that time frame, at least in general.

"I was speaking with the VP of sales and he said they would begin to build trucks the 15th of Jan. for the US market and he felt that we would have them in Colorado by the 2nd quarter of this coming year."

[jackson]

Dear Andy,
The best site filled with new information daily. Great responses from so many sources, this is a good place to keep up and learn about Mahindra.