Global Vehicles USA Inc., the Alpharetta, Georgia-based auto distributor, said it will place a $35 million-plus order for pickups from Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., the Indian automaker it’s in a dispute with.
The order, to be made today, will comprise an unspecified number of TR20 and TR40 pickups, Global Vehicles said in an e- mailed statement. The company and about 350 dealers in 49 states have invested almost $100 million to sell the vehicles, it said.
Global Vehicles in June asked an Atlanta federal court to prohibit Mahindra, India’s biggest sport-utility vehicle maker, from conducting sales in the U.S. with any other dealer, claiming that the Mumbai-based automaker “in bad faith” engaged in protracted contract negotiations for services relating to regulatory emission tests. Mahindra, which has said that its tie-up with Global Vehicle has expired, is seeking to have the suit dismissed.
Pawan Goenka, president of Mahindra’s automotive and farm equipment unit and Mahindra spokeswoman Roma Balwani didn’t answer calls made to their mobile phones today.
Mahindra gave the Global Vehicles “relationship its best efforts,” it said yesterday in a statement on its website. The company reiterated that it still intends to sell vehicles in the U.S. The automaker said in August that its trucks won U.S. emissions approvals. The company’s plans to enter the U.S. have already been delayed by more than a year.
The case is Global Vehicles USA Inc. v. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., 110cv1818, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta).
