a 2.2 common rail diesel... A license of the 177 hp Toyota D4D ??? coupled to a 6 speed automatic ? it should be able to haul a GCVW of 8 ton just like the Sprinters and Dailies do in Europe. It wont be as fast uphill as a USA truck, but those people who haul 8 ton every day, can still buy `more truck` with a Cummins, duramax or powerstroke. Those who haul occasionally, can save a lot of money when carrying around less bulk in all those other trips when they dont need to tow a trailer...
To get this widely accepted, it requires a change of the way americans think... It will happen because of the hard times, and once its widely accepted that you dont become a lesser man when you drive a smaller truck, other manufacturers may hop into that market too...
The same as it happened with cars, the 2 ton Detroit built cars of the 60s and 70s also have faded away in favour of Honda, VW, even though these brands had a hard time and a slow sales start, getting accepted back then.
It is built European style, lower dead weight with the same cargo capacity as a much bigger truck.
Even though it has a European engineering style, it wont sell in Europe, as Europeans hardly use open pickups, its all vans over here.
Maybe in Australia, there they utilise vehicles in similar fashion as in America, but they buy a lot of European trucks and commercial vehicles. Problem is, Mahindra has no sales network, name nor fame there. I think thats why they try their luck in the crisis bound USA now, now is the time to introduce a smaller more efficient but lower status vehicle...
The biggest challenge for Mahindra, is to get this vehicle sold to people other than those who cant afford anything else... When that happens, the reputation sticks to it forever....
