Can Mahindra Become the Volkswagen of Pickup Trucks? - PickupTrucks.com

A year or two ago, the future looked very bright for diesel pickups. Chrysler, Ford, GM and Toyota each announced commitments to produce half-ton trucks with all-new compression-ignition engines by 2010. The news was greeted enthusiastically by truck buyers, who were already familiar with the fuel economy and... Nearly lost in the glare of all that diesel star power was an announcement made by Indian automaker Mahindra that it too would sell a midsize oil-burning pickup in the U. S. within two years. After all, what buyer would gamble hard-earned dollars on a pickup from a country more renowned for Bollywood than for building trucks capable of hauling wood. And how could an Indian-built pickup ever meet the toughest clean-diesel emissions standards in the world. Now, in what’s shaping up to be one of the most significant pickup truck stories of the past decade, Mahindra has almost completely traded places with Chrysler, Ford, GM and Toyota. The truck giants have indefinitely postponed their small diesels as diesel fuel prices spiked lat year and bankruptcy woes hit Chrysler and GM, while underdog Mahindra has steadily soldiered on with plans to sell its first trucks in America by the... Source: news.pickuptrucks.com