With some Chinese (and other) vehicle manufacturers pulling out of South Africa, the news that Mahindra has invested R30-million into its South African operation should allay fears locals might have about the company’s future in this country.
At the launch of the people carrier Xylo this week, Mahindra South Africa chief executive Vijay Nakra admitted that a small-volume seller such as Mahindra faced a tough time, but there’s no danger of the Indian company closing shop because South Africa is viewed as a “strategic location” for broadening business in sub-Saharan Africa.
Since its introduction to South Africa in 2004 Mahindra has sold about 11 000 vehicles and has 34 dealerships across the country.
The Xylo was launched in India in January and has since sold 5 000 units.
The new model is an impressively spacious eight-seater MPV, which sells for R159 900 for the base model E2 and R189 000 for the E8.
The Xylo is a great value-for-money MPV, which is worth considering not only because of its price, but because it’s a comfortable vehicle.
There are definitely kinks inside — from the many pieces of overlapping beading on the inside of the window frame to the hard plastics throughout the interior — but they’re not significant enough to detract from an otherwise above-average configuration.
Behind the wheel there is a definite sense of height, which is good for visibility, dirt-road driving and such, but there is the drawback of the Xylo feeling top-heavy. With increased height comes increased body roll, so it’s not an unusual shortcoming, but it is a noticeable one primarily because the Xylo is bigger than most MPVs. The additional weight, which helps to give it that comfy interior, also has the downside of making it feel jittery on twisty sections.
The five-speed transmission on the 2.5-litre diesel engine (83kW and 235Nm) is pleasingly smooth and gave the Xylo a likeable ride, but it did run out of steam at about 4 500rpm.
Standard features on the E2 are power steering, electric windows, aircon and central locking. Features on the E8 include park assist, a trip computer, ABS and foldable flight-style trays among others.
There are no airbags on either model and these will be added to the range by September.
Mahindra executives said the Xylo is meant to fill the gap in the market left by the departure of the Toyota Condor MPV.
The Condor was indeed a multi-people carrier, but some models were also proper 4x4s, which the Xylo isn’t. I suppose only time (and sales) will tell if the demise of the Condor did indeed leave a slot in the market that hasn’t been filled since.
Fast five q&a with Mahindra chief executive Vijay Nakra
Do you think the R30-million investment will sustain your future in South Africa?
We are committed to this market and we are definitely here for the long term. We believe this is an appropriate investment and in the future, if we do need more, we will invest in the business.
What have you done about the sometimes problematic availability of spare parts?
Our spare parts fill rate to our dealers is currently over 90%. We did have a bit of a problem in terms of supply of spare parts from India and that’s because we were moving our parts unit to a much larger-scale operation, but we are over that now.
Is Mahindra looking to buy other vehicle brands?
There are opportunities that come up from time to time and we will have to see how it fits into our overall strategy. But we do already have alliances with companies such as Renault so we will have to investigate those opportunities thoroughly. Right now though, we don’t have any plans to acquire any brands.
What about the possibility of manufacturing Mahindras in South Africa?
We have done feasibility studies here and when the economy turns around we will revisit those studies with regards to an assembly project here.
What do you say to people who feel your products are not of a good-enough quality?
I think we have come a long way in terms of providing world-class products at an appropriate price. You will see this as we bring in the newer platform cars like the Xylo into South Africa — the people will begin to appreciate the good quality. Our cars can now stand up to international products.