A manufacturer from India got its start in 1945 building Willys Jeeps from kits shipped from Toledo and selling the military vehicles in the Asian country.

Sixty-two years later, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. will enter the U.S. market, meeting the Toledo-born Jeep brand late next year with the fi rst sport-utility vehicle it developed on its own, the Scorpio.

Despite the rugged Indian SUV’s success in Europe, it isn’t much of a threat to Jeep and its Toledo-built offerings, the compact Liberty and Willys-inspired Wrangler, one expert said.

Neither are a string of Chinese-made SUVs that are to begin arriving in the United States next year, said Ryan Brinkman, senior analyst with PricewaterhouseCoopers
Automotive Institute.