Mahindra Jeeto

Highlights

January 6, 2020: The rapidly changing last-mile transportation with growing consumption in India, this small commercial vehicle segment is extremely important for truck manufacturers. While the large trucks used for heavy long-distance transportation, the small and mini trucks are the ones used inside the city and town to deliver the goods to the consumers. Over the last 5-6 years, this segment has hot-up quite significantly, as the more and more first-time buyer who become entrepreneurs are entering the transportation business. Also, few truck aggregators disrupted this market where a lot of potential for mini trucks.

Here again, two established players, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors are the prominent players in this mini truck segment in India. Tata Motors has the upper hand with its pioneering ACE range of small trucks. However, M&M has also entered this segment with a lot of R&D and study of the market.

The company introduced the Jeeto range of small truck family to compete with Tata Ace. To address the wider customer segment, M&M has come up with 3 models of Jeeto with eight different variants for the sub-1-Ton segment transportation. The Jeeto gets a 625cc diesel engine with a power of 11bhp and peak 38Nm of peak torque in 1100-2000rpm range. 

Three Jeeto ranges are- the S-Series, L-Series and the X-series with load body lengths of 1630mm, 1740mm and 1930mm, respectively. Jeeto carries a payload between 600kg to 700kg as per the shipment’s types. mm and 3581mm/ 2500mm, overall length/ wheelbase, respectively.

Jeeto has been well-established in the market with wider acceptance for this product both in the urban, semi-urban and rural areas. M&M is working hard to tune the vehicle to make further is more appealing to the customers. M&M sells nearly 3000-4000 units of Jeeto every month with a 25% market share in the 2-Ton mini truck segment.

Mahindra Jeeto - Expert Review

Overview

Mahindra Jeeto is a small LCV and an exceptional option in its class. The mini truck is a robust model built for the commercial market. It is perfect for small businesses and gives a tough competition to the Tata Ace Series of mini trucks. It is a lite commercial truck with good mileage and power. The stylish headlamps and an attractive front grille enhance the first appeal of the vehicle.

It has a single-cylinder M-Dura water-cooled engine with a displacement of 625cc. It returns an amazing mileage and makes for the best choice in the commercial truck market. It meets the BS-IV norms too.

The mini-truck is so popular that in August 2018, the M&M announced that it crossed the one lakh production milestone. It was first launched in 2015 and competes against the likes of the Ashok Leyland Dost and all the variants of the Tata Ace.

Specs

• Engine - 0.6-litre, M-Dura single cylinder
• Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) - 1,485 kilograms
• Wheelbase - 2,375 mm
• Power steering - No

Engine and Performance

The Mahindra Jeeto is powered by a M-Dura, 625cc, single cylinder, water-cooled engine. It churns out a maximum power of 16 bhp at 3,600 rpm and a peak torque of 38 Nm that comes at 1,200 rpm. The power is transferred to the wheels with the help of a 4-speed manual gearbox and a single plate dry clutch. The axle configuration is 4x4, which is quite amazing for such a small truck.

The mini-truck isn’t very big and heavy, Hence, the small amount of power and torque turns out to be enough to drive a fully loaded truck with ease.

Vehicle Built and Load Capacity

The Mahindra Jeeto truck comes with a deck body design option. It has a comfortable and spacious cabin with decent headroom and legroom, which makes it quite easy to step in and easy to alight. The seats are very comfortable and are built for fatigue-free long journeys. The gear knob is very car-like and ranks good for more convenience.

The vehicle is capable of carrying a payload of 700 kilograms. Moreover, the gross weight (inclusive of the kerb weight) is 1,485 kilograms.

Handling and Suspension

The Mahindra Jeeto has a tiltable steering column, which provides a very convenient driving position. The steering is a manual type unit and comes with a rack and pinion system. McPherson Strut type suspension is provided for the front, while the rear has a Semi-trailing arm unit. The suspension is finely tuned to not make the drive uncomfortable by being too hard or too soft.

Braking and Safety

Being an entry-level small commercial truck, the Mahindra Jeeto has a good braking setup. There are disc brakes given for all the wheels, which offer great stopping power, especially considering that the vehicle will be used for commercial purpose where it carries load and cargo in city limits mostly.

However, there is no option for ABS available with this truck, which is justifiable with the kind of power the truck has. Hence, it manages to do well without it. Parking brakes come as standard in all the variants of the truck. Inside the cabin, all the passenger seats are equipped with seatbelts for added safety.

Design and Comfort

The Mahindra Jeeto has an all-new look with a stylish front grille that would please everyone. It looks quite nice with a sturdy appeal. It provides car-like comfort and best-in-class mileage of around 37 kmpl. The Jeeto is available in five different color options - Diamond White, Sunrise Red, Mango Yellow, Ultramarine Blue, and Premium Beige.

Inside the cabin, the gear lever is placed right at the center of the dashboard, which enhances the interior layout and is very convenient for the drivers to use. But an option of air-conditioning should have been included for added comfort as the truck might be doing long trips as well.

However, at the given price tag, the Mahindra Jeeto turns out to be a very fruitful model for the company and a great buy for the customers.