Mahindra Delay Excuses Don't Set Well With Importer

Mahindra importer, Global Vehicles USA (GV), has quickly responded to Mahindra’s statements that the US launch of their India-built line of compact diesel pickup trucks has been delayed indefinitely due to ongoing conflict with the Georgia-based company.


“Mahindra is legally – and morally – obligated to conduct business as usual” – John Perez, CEO, Global Vehicles

Perez refers to an arbitration clause which was part of the original contract between Global Vehicles and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd to establish GV as the exclusive distributor of Mahindra vehicles in the United States. The contract between the two parties expired on June 11, 2010. On that same day, GV invoked an arbitration clause placed in the distributor agreement. That clause requires both companies to conduct ‘business as usual’ in order to fulfill their commitment in supplying Mahindra pickups to nearly 350 dealers which have been waiting over 2 years for products to sell.

While engaged in a federal lawsuit filed against them by GV and the binding arbitration process being conducted in the UK, Mahindra continues to publicly dismiss GV as exclusive distributor of their vehicles, and now are blaming further delays on these actions.

"Any suggestion that the arbitration process or the federal lawsuit we were forced to file to protect our rights are responsible for the delay in bringing trucks to the United States is patently not true. If Mahindra's trucks are ready to sell, they should continue performing their obligations under the distributor agreement just like we have. If dealers start to doubt Mahindra's integrity, they don't stand a chance of earning the trust of American consumers." – John Perez

Source: Global Vehicles via PRNewsWire