Mahindra & Mahindra has ended up in a legal battle with Stellantis (formerly FCA Automobiles), this time in Australia.
Stellantis, parent company of Jeep, has filed a case against Mahindra & Mahindra in Australia because of the design of Mahindra's SUV Thar.
As per a report in The Financial Express, Mahindra teased an image of Thar on its Australian website and requested the people to register their interests regarding the same. It appeared that Mahindra was willing to launch Thar 4×4 in Australia, and this seems to have triggered Stellantis to take legal action against it.
Stellantis believes that Mahindra is intentionally trying to infringe the intellectual property rights of their off-roader, Jeep Wrangler. The report further mentions that Stellantis wants Mahindra to immediately cease and desist from all activities related to the import, distribution and sale of the Thar product in Australia.
Whereas, the Mahindra spokesperson said, "We have filed our reply in the proceeding commenced by the FCA against us. There are no plans to launch the current model of the Thar in Australia. We would provide adequate notice to the FCA, as is requested, if we were to launch any future model of the Thar in Australia. The court has listed the case to be heard on May 20, 2021. We have no immediate plans for the all-new Thar to be launched in other markets outside India given the strong demand that we are seeing in India.”
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