The automotive major Mahindra & Mahindra on Tuesday said it is open to more acquisitions.

Refraining to comment on reports that the group was pitching for Aston Martin bid, Pravin Shah, Chief Executive, Automotive Division of M&M, said he would not like to comment on general reports. The company has had a very successful buyout history in the past and even the SsangYong deal has proved to be very good. Therefore, we are always scouting for good buys.

“We expect SsangYong turnaround much before what we had initially planned,” he said after the launch of sports utility vehicle Rexton in Hyderabad. This launch is part of the Phase II rollout of Rexton in seven cities. Earlier, the third generation feature-packed Rexton was launched in Mumbai and Delhi.

“The growth of UV and SUV market in the first half augured well for the industry. This is likely to sustain. The festival season sales have been good and are expected to boost volumes as it is spread over two months. This means that the third quarter will be good,” he said.

The utility market has been growing rapidly in the country. From about 13 per cent last year it has grown close to 22 per cent in October. Yet this is much lower than some of the markets in the region where it is as high as 45 per cent. There is still immense scope for growth, he said.

VERITO

“During the year, we have lunched seven models and expect to launch new Verito before the end of the financial year,” he said.

The demand for XUV and Quanto has been good with the latter notching up bookings of over 10,700 vehicles in a very short time. The waiting list for XUV will be gradually brought down as we have increased the output, he said.

rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in

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