M

Mumbai, May 31 (UNI) Utility vehicles major Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) is going to set up a three-way joint venture (JV) in Russia for assembling and marketing its sports utility vehicle (SUV), 'Scorpio'.

Its partners for the JV will be Russian automobile company GAZ and the Khemka family-promoted SUN group, which has operations in both India and Russia, a M&M release issued here today said.

The assembly unit will be set up alongside GAZ's present manufacturing base in Russia where operations are expected to begin by early next year.

M&M President Pawan Goenka said ''the company is targeting a market share of six per cent in the first couple of years of operation and once that is achieved, they might even look at manufacturing Scorpio in Russia.'' M&M would provide the design and technology for Scorpio, while GAZ would market the vehicle. There is a market of one lakh SUV units a year in Russia which is growing at a rate of 10 per cent annually.

Replying to a question, Mr Goenka said the Russian market for SUV is valued at Rs 8,000 crore.

UNI SN MJ AG1813