How do you give your workhorse bakkie more torque and less clatter without spending money?

Scorpio bakkies now better equipped for the wild with standard diff lock.

No, it's not a Jeep, it's the Mahindra Thar. It's named for the world's ninth-largest desert and it's available in South Africa for less than R170 000.

Mahindra has launched a revised, nine-model range of Scorpio bakkies and SUV's in South Africa that, it says, takes them "to the next level".

Mahindra has launched a budget-priced multi-purpose vehicle called the Xylo in South Africa and billed it as a successor to the discontinued Toyota Condor.

Mahindra has added a range-topping 2.6-litre turbodiesel with common-rail fuel-injection and ABS to its Scorpio SUVs.

A major European manufacturer and an Indian group have launched a joint venture car in Mumbai - with interesting implications for South Africa.

The Mahindra Scorpio would probably elicit the same reaction from the average school-taxi mom as the pincered arachnid it's named after. So cross larney mommies off the buyer's list. But that still leaves us with a large potential customer base...

Kitting up three vehicles for a 35 000km overland drive from the Himalayan foothills to Cape Town via a good chunk of western Asia would, you'd think, mean quite a list. Unless, that is, you're driving a Mahindra Scorpio SUV - in which case you bolt on a roof-rack, fit some heavy-duty tyres and head out…

EXCLUSIVE: Indian automaker Mahindra has celebrated its 60th year of vehicle production with the world launch in South Africa of its latest Scorpio range of leisure bakkies and an SUV on the same platform - LES STEPHENSON was there for the arrival of the high-tech but astoundingly low-priced trucks.

Mahindra has released a petrol version of its Scorpio SUV, which until now has been available only as a turbodiesel.

Mahindra is celebrating 60 years of corporate existence and its first year in South Africa with a limited edition model in its Scorpio range.

The Indian invasion of the South African auto market continues with the introduction of another rugged bakkie at a price that will worry local manufacturers.