MUMBAI: Two years after India's largest utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra put its ambitious foray into the utility vehicles and pick-up trucks in the United States on hold, the company is taking small steps to re-enter the highly competitive market.

ET learns the recently inaugurated Mahindra's North American Technical Center (MNATC) in Troy, Detroit, which is primarily working on products meant for the Indian market, is also slated to work on products for the US market, in the second phase.starting 2016-17.

Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Tuesday said that they would challenge the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) order that imposed huge penalty on auto companies on Tuesday.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) – the largest utility vehicle maker issued a statement on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) saying, "The company aggrieved by this order proposes to appeal against it before the appropriate forum."

NEW DELHI: Carmakers such as Tata Motors, M&M, and Maruti Suzuki-0.62 % plunged up to 2 per cent in trade on Tuesday, after the Competition Commission of India imposed a combined penalty of over Rs 2,500 crore on 14 carmakers for indulging in unfair practices in the spare parts market.

Tata Motors-0.73 % faces the maximum fine of Rs 1,346 crore, followed by Maruti Suzuki Rs 471 crore, Mahindra & Mahindra Rs 292 crore, General Motors Rs 85 crore, Honda Car India Rs 78 crore.

While Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) did not see a good year in terms of sales of its utility vehicles last fiscal which was evident by production cuts across its manufacturing facilities, its tractor sales were robust leading the company to increase its workforce.

Since the passenger vehicles market was tepid during FY14 almost all the other manufacturers had reduced their workforce. It was only M&M, which saw its employee strength go up 16% to 40,163 compared with a year ago period, according to the data given in its annual report.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) – the country's biggest tractor maker - launched a new tractor platform almost after 14 years catering to the 50-60 horsepower (hp) and above category.

The product was developed for over 3 years and the company invested about Rs 300 crore with inputs from over 100 engineers.

Bangalore/Mumbai: Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd has changed the chief executive of Mahindra Retail Pvt. Ltd, which runs the Mom and Me and Beanstalk chain stores, after the kids wear retailer went on an expansion spree for several years that led to hundreds of crore in losses.

Mahindra has brought in Prakash Wakankar from its private equity arm Mahindra Partners to replace K. Venkataraman as CEO at Mahindra Retail. Wakankar is a former CEO of the Indian business of confectionery maker Perfetti Van Melle and also headed Mahindra Holidays and Resorts in a brief stint more than a decade ago.

Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) rolled out its new Yuvraj 215 NXT in Rajkot on Wednesday. According to the company, this 15 HP tractor is compact, easy to operate and fuel-efficient with low operating cost, making it ideal for small landholdings.

"Our objective is to increase farm productivity and enhance rural prosperity. The Yuvraj 215 NXT is part of our vision to deliver 'FarmTech Prosperity' to farmers in Gujarat through its multiple application features," said Ravindra Shahane, vice-president, marketing, farm equipment sector, M&M Ltd.

Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has surged over 4% to Rs 1,281 on expectation of agri machinery sector would get strong booster over next 2-3 years as better prospects of agriculture sector supported by number of government aids and more focus on rural economy by new government.

The stock opened at Rs 1,240 and hit a high of Rs 1,284, also its lifetime high on National Stock Exchange (NSE). A combined 371,186 shares changed hands on the counter so far on NSE and BSE.

Weighed by a fall in the demand for utility vehicles (UV), Mumbai-based Mahindra & Mahindra posted six per cent dip in its stand-alone net profit to Rs 882 crore for the quarter ended June even as demand for passenger vehicles looked to pick pace again.

It beat street expectations which had pegged the net profit at Rs 833 crore for the quarter. During the quarter last year it had posted net profit of Rs 938 crore. The profit would have been higher, but for the Rs 67 crore (or 37 per cent) jump in the depreciation to Rs 248 crore. Stand-alone revenues were up two per cent year-on-year to Rs 10,096 crore in the quarter.

Japanese carmaker Honda emerged as the third-largest carmaker in July with a 40% jump in volumes to 15,709 units, overtaking home-grown player Mahindra, which saw a drop of 5% in monthly sales to 14,708 units.

With a market share that has more than doubled from about 3% in FY13 to almost 7% (April-June FY15), Honda is behind market leader Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai that command about 44% and 17% market shares, respectively.

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