Mahindra & Mahindra has reiterated that the move to halt supplies of the 110cc Stallio motorcycle to dealerships till June was prompted by a proactive intent to be ‘responsive and sensitive' to the needs of its customers.
“There was a small feedback on the clutch operation being hard which affects the gearshift. For M&M, which is keen on being a long-term player in bikes and scooters, even this was enough to act promptly,” Mr Anoop Mathur, President of the Two-Wheeler Sector, told Business Line .
The 125cc Stallio was launched last November and around 5,000 units were sold till January when the company decided to halt supplies and focus on the problem. “Though the feedback proportion was small and the incidence limited, we decided not to overlook anything because the brand equity of M&M is paramount,” he said.
Long-term interests
According to Mr Mathur, this move could not be perceived as a recall ‘by any stretch of imagination'. The company was aware of the ‘root cause of this variability' and had taken action to have it identified and remedied so that there was no recurrence of this ‘random behaviour'.
“We are now positioning ourselves with the steps we have taken to overcome this variability issue and the Stallio should be ready in mid-June,” he said. M&M, he added, could have chosen to look the other way and ‘overplayed the positives' of the bike but this would have impacted its standing in the market.
“We are here for the long-term, we already have a place in scooters and there is no reason why we cannot replicate this in bikes. Had we taken a myopic view, it would have been damaging to our long-term interests. We are confident of being back on top of the situation,” Mr Mathur said.
It was also his view that this hiatus from the market was of little consequence since the company had faith in the product. “This is not a back-foot game where we are being defensive. Nobody knew us in scooters not so long ago but we are making a quantitative presence in the segment. We are equally confident that despite this phase, the business, brand and customer proposition will stay intact. I see this as an investment for the future,” he said.
Incidentally, M&M has also deferred the launch of its 300cc Mojo sports cruiser which was originally scheduled to hit the roads last month.