MUMBAI: Mahindra & Mahindra's indigenously engineered SUV Scorpio ended 2002 with three prestigious National awards – the Car of the Year Award from Business Standard Motoring; the Best SUV of the Year by BBC on Wheels; and the Best Car of the Year award from BBC on Wheels.

For all three awards, entries were received from all the leading automobile manufacturers and the Scorpio came out a clear winner. Evaluation was done on various technical parameters and after the vehicles were put under various gruelling tests by independent automobile experts. All the three awards come as an enormous success for M&M, which have seen the Scorpio developed indigenously from concept to commercial production. M&M sold approximately 1400 Scorpios in December 2002.

Commenting on winning these awards, Mahindra and Mahindra executive director & president, automotive sector Alan Durante said: “Every member of the M&M family today stands proud, thanks to the phenomenal success of the Scorpio. The Scorpio although indigenously developed is truly a world-class vehicle, which aptly bridges the gap between style & adventure, luxury & ruggedness and performance & economy. These awards surely challenge us to set higher standards and strive for bettering our own performance, so that the customer proudly drives around in a world class car.”

Currently the Scorpio has a waiting period of over two months, says a release. One of the publications which gave an award gave rave reviews to Scorpio: “ The Scorpio has won by dint of being a product designed, developed and executed with the Indian consumer in mind, yet benchmarked against contemporary international models.”