REPORT: U.S. Mahindra pickup stalled until February

It's apparently tougher than Mahindra first thought to break into the American pickup truck market. According to a report on PickupTrucks.com, Pawan Goenka, Mahindra's president of automotive operations, told reporters in India, "We will start production of Mahindra 'Pik-up' utility vehicle by December this year for the U.S., and by end-February next year, the vehicle will be sold there."

For those keeping track, this is the second major delay announced by Mahindra and it puts the truck in the United States just about a year later than originally planned. Even Global Vehicles, the chosen distributor of the trucks in the States, was caught off guard by the decision. Still, we agree that a delay is certainly more palatable than a botched launch attempt.

When it finally does hit in February of 2010, expect the truck to come in both TR20 (two-door) and TR40 (four-door) styles and come equipped with a standard 2.2-liter four cylinder diesel engine that should return 30 miles per gallon and tow up to 1.3 tons. Pricing will be announced in September. Reportedly.

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]