Project Scorpio: The Making of India's First Indigenous Sports Utility Vehicle

M&M was set up in 1945 to manufacture general-purpose utility vehicles for the Indian market. The company soon diversified into the manufacture of tractors for agriculture and light commercial vehicles (LCVs). Over the decades, M&M diversified into other businesses through alliances and joint ventures with Indian as well as foreign companies, and secured a significant presence in many major business sectors in India and abroad.

By the early 1990s, M&M was a global conglomerate with a presence in many sectors including automobiles, farm equipment, trade and finance related services, information technology, and infrastructure development.

M&M's Farm Equipment Division made tractors and other farm implements. The Division also diversified into manufacturing industrial engines in 2003. In the same year, it became the first tractor company in the world to receive the prestigious Deming Application Prize. (Awarded by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE), this prize was considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the area of Quality Management). The Automobile Division traced its roots back to the 1950s, when the company began offering a multi utility vehicle (MUV) under the 'Jeep' brand in India, in collaboration with Willys Overland Corporation, American Motors Corporation, and Kaiser Jeep Corporation, all based in the US.