Mahindra's long-planned U.S. launch of the Pik-Up has been delayed repeatedly.

Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra has dismissed, in no uncertain terms, reports it is preparing to build pickup trucks in Alabama with help from Navistar.

The maker recently postponed plans to launch sales of both a pickup and an SUV model, terminating its relationship with an American distributor.  But there has been widespread speculation Mahindra would now try to go it alone and even shift production of the compact truck to the States, hoping to take advantage of the decision by both Ford and Chrysler to pull out of that market segment.

“There have been reports in certain quarters of media and online space stating that Navistar USA will produce Mahindra’s T20 and T40 pickups in Alabama, USA in 2012, which are completely baseless & incorrect. Mahindra said in statement. “If and when there are any material developments, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited will communicate them directly and transparently.”

The website Mahindra Planet, billed as “The Unofficial Mahindra U.S. News Source,” had eagerly reported recently Mahindra would be manufacturing trucks in the US next year.

Navistar and Mahindra have done business for years, indeed one of Mahindra’s sport-utility vehicles appears to be a direct descendant of an SUV sold by Navistar during the ’60s and ’70s to the U.S. Department of Defense as an alternative to the Jeep.  The two firms stepped up their relationship with a formal joint venture in 2005.

Navistar has said it will have more than 2,000 people working at a new complex in Muscle Shoals, Alabama by 2015, But details about the project have been scarce and there has been no indication Navistar is preparing to build pickup trucks in Alabama. In fact, a lawsuit involving Mahindra and its old distributorship partnership remains unresolved, which could stifle any effort by the Indian truck maker to distribute, never mind produce, vehicles in the US .

(Meanwhile, LULAC, the League of United Latiin American Citizens, is calling on manufacturers and supplier companies to think twice about doing business in the state of Alabama because of its anti-immigrant laws and practices. LULAC also happens to be influential in and around Chicago where Navistar is based.

(Other states also have begun using Alabama’s restrictive new anti-immigrant measures — and incidents such as the brief detentions to two German nationals working for Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa, Ala. and another incident involving two Japanese citizens employed by Honda – to lure investors away from the southern state.

(A report by the AFL-CIO has said the restrictive laws have broken up families and helped create a police state atmosphere in Alabama.

(Both Daimer AG and Honda, which operate facilities in Alabama, have declined to speak discuss LULAC’s campaign.)

A $12.5 billion multinational group based in Mumbai, India, Mahindra & Mahindra employs more than 137,000 people in over 100 countries. In 2011, Mahindra featured on the Forbes Global 2000 list. It has a significant and growing presence in the automotive industry, agribusiness, aerospace, automotive components, consulting services, defense, energy, industrial equipment, logistics, real estate, retail, steel and two wheelers, according to the company’s website.