The Mahindra Imperio is just one of several trucks the giant automaker has in its portfolio. In the United States, Mahindra is known for their affordable agricultural equipment and has a dealership in nearly every state.
Mahindra builds trucks. Inexpensive (by our standards) trucks. Trucks that are built to work hard.
Available in single and double cab, the 2016 Mahindra Imperio Pickup Truck has a (approximately) 74 horsepower 2.5-liter, diesel that makes about 162 lb-feet of torque. It’s a small pickup truck by our standards with a maximum length of 17.3 feet and 6.2 feet wide, it’s too small to be considered a mid-sized truck in the U.S.
Still, it has a payload rating of over 2,700 lbs and is estimated to tow over 5,000 lbs.
This is a very simple vehicle. It’s a 2WD, small diesel that has a 5-speed manual and very few thrills. Still, for those of us who need a basic pickup truck without having to get a second mortgage to pay for it, this truck is refreshing. It gets around 30 mpg highway, has very few high-tech components and it costs (in India) between $10,000 and $14,000.
The export market will get a variant that makes more power, has all-wheel drive (AWD) as an option and will have a steeper price. Regardless, if you doubled the starting price of the Mahindra Imperio, it would still be less expensive than the least expensive pickup truck sold in the United States.
Why is any of this relevant? Less than a decade ago, Mahindra was seriously looking at our market for export. They had test models of their mid-sized truck on our roads and were considering long-term investment before everything stopped. No one knows the specifics for Mahindra’s last minute withdrawal, but it’s rumored to have something to do with emissions.
Rumor has it, Mahindra may be considering another go at the United States.
We’ll keep an eye on this one.
Speaking of “small” trucks…
