According to a top company official, Mahindra & Mahindra has initiated negotiations with several Indian state governments to establish manufacturing infrastructure for its range of electric sports utility vehicles.
The automaker has five new electric sports utility vehicles (SUVs), with the first four of them expected to be on the roads in December 2024-2026. It will then evaluate the incentives offered by various state governments, before finalizing a strategy for the production of these EVs.
“Subsidies we might get from the states are one of the criteria for making that decision (electric car production). We are still waiting for that process to be completed and will have two-three options before finalizing our manufacturing strategy,” Rajesh Jejurikar, M&M Executive Director – Auto and Farm Sectors, said in an interaction.
He said that the company had already begun discussions with some state governments about the production of the new range of electric SUVs.
The automaker produces its conventional ICE (Internal Combustion engine) vehicles at plants in different states, including Maharashtra as well as Tamil Nadu.
When asked if M&M would look to build an electric vehicle plant in its existing manufacturing facilities for passenger vehicles, he replied that they were open to considering all options. Jejurikar said that while I don’t think that subsidies will be the sole criteria, it is a factor in deciding where to produce. However, he added that M&M would prefer a state with a strong automotive manufacturing infrastructure.
It must be located in an automotive hub. We are not going to move to a state without an automotive ecosystem. There are enough states with such ecosystems that focus on attracting EV investment. He stated that we will be evaluating those three to four options.”
The automaker will introduce five electric SUVs under two brands – XUV and a brand new electric-only brand, ‘BE’.
Legacy brands will be sold under the XUV brand, while new electric models will be sold under the BE lineage.
Mahindra does not currently have an electric passenger vehicle presence. However, it is the market leader in the domestic electric three-wheeler segment with a greater than 70% market share.
Jejurikar answered a question about export plans for electric SUVs. He stated that although they haven’t decided on markets, they have begun to examine all regulatory requirements and expectations.
“Two Years later, if we haven’t learned from the past two years, then we should be held responsible for not being an excellent learning organisation. He stated that we won’t make the same mistake again and have enough capacity to export and domestically.
Due to a shortage of chips and high demand for M&M’s latest models Scorpio-N and XUV700, Mahindra has had long-standing orders that have been pending for almost two years.