After selling 600 electric vehicles in first seven months of this year, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), electric cars maker in India, will soon launch two new EVs.
According to the company, an electric variant of its compact SUV KUV100 will be launched in a year’s time whereas its second product will be developed by its Italian premium car design firm Pininfarina, which will hit the market by 2019.
Dr. Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, M&M said, “Our first new electric car will come by 2018 and the second one will be launched by the end of 2019 and we are very excited for both.”
The two cars will be based on current models but did not give out any more details on this front. It will be investing up to Rs 600 crore spread across three years to build these cars. The firm will ramp up production too at its plant in Bengaluru, he added.
The company is not bothered by sales figure as it is just beginning phase of electric vehicles in India. In the first 7 months of this financial year, Mahindra has managed to sell 600 odd electric cars and that’s quite good considering that the company manufactures 100 of them every month.
As per Industry insiders, the demand for electric cars will go up and Mahindra will be early gainer.
Mahindra is the only company in India currently to manufacture electric cars. The company will bid for the second stage of tender for supplying around 4750 electric sedans to EESL.
Anand Mahindra on electric cars opportunity
Anand Mahindra-led company plans to production capacity upto 1,000 cars per month in the next six months. The company plans to further push the production mark to 5,000 units by 2019.
According to Anand Mahindra, Chairman of M&M, EV opportunity is the single biggest business opportunity for the next couple of decades. Indian govt plans to shift all vehicles to electrification by 2030 in India.
Electric car maker recently partnered with ride-hailing firm Uber, according to the agreement it will deliver hundreds of e2oPlus hatch and the eVerito sedan to Uber across several cities in the country. The car maker has also tied up with Zoomcar, a car rental firm.
Company site: Mahindra
