Moneycontrol » News » CNBC-TV18 Comments M&M's 2-wheeler revival plans: Playing the catch up game!

After Ratan Tata's defence of the Nano, today it was Anand Mahindra's turn to defend the company's forgettable foray into the motorcycle market. Mahindra is confident of a better second innings for its debut bike – the Stalllio, which is expected to be back in dealerships around March. CNBC-TV18's Swati Khandelwal Jain and Shereen Bhan report.

Anand Mahindra continues to defend M&M's failed foray into the motorcycle market. After a much hyped launch with Aamir Khan as the brand ambassador, the production of M&M's debut bike the 110 cc Stallio was discontinued after sales of about 5,000 units.

M&M had promised to re-launch the bike towards the end of 2011. The company is now hopeful of putting the reworked stallion will be back in dealerships around the end of this fiscal

While Stallio could see a re-launch in March, there is still no clarity on how soon M&M's bigger bike, the 300 cc Mojo, will hit the market.

"We will be launching it soon and work is just in its final stages," informs Anoop Mathur, President, Mahindra 2 Wheelers

While M&M's bike foray has been forgettable, it has fared better in the scooter segment where it sells an average 5,000 scooters a month. This is still very small compared to market leader Honda, which sells over 50,000 units of the Activa andHero , which sells over 35,000 units of its Pleasure every month.

So while M&M's car business is going strong, it has a long way to catch up in the 2 wheeler market.