India’s electric car maker Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) is planning to make electric variants of almost all of its passenger vehicles.
“Almost all passenger vehicles in Mahindra’s portfolio will have an electric variant. Plans for the electric Scorpio and XUV are already on. Others will follow,” said a FactorDaily report quoting an anonymous source inside the company.
Mahindra will have electric versions of the Scorpio, Bolero, XUV and TUV models, among others.
Currently, Mahindra has electric variants eVerito and e20. The company is leading electric four-wheeler maker by sales. It is also planning to bet big on battery-powered vehicles.
The company reportedly sells around 2,500 electric vehicles a year.
Besides, Mahindra is reportedly working with Pininfarina, Italian car design company, for an electric luxury car. The product, already being compared to Tesla vehicles, will be badged Pininfarina.
However, the report added quoting a second source that the company is not sure about electric vehicle-per-model philosophy in the commercial vehicles space.
Mahindra has partnered with Ola and Uber to supply its electric cars. It also partnered with Ford Motor to cooperate in areas including electric and driverless autos. Company’s Chairman Anand Mahindra had said that the concept of making environment-friendly and clean technology vehicles is business opportunity of future.
“This is the single biggest business opportunity for the next couple of decades”, said Anand Mahindra, at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York. “We’ve just been believers for a while, haven’t been making any money, but now the tipping point seems to be reached”, Anand added.
At present, the electric car maker is a lead player as other automakers such as Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki are planning to get into the segment. Maruti officials have said earlier that by 2020 the company will roll out its electric vehicles in India.
Among other companies, Japanese auto major Yamaha is looking to foray into electric two-wheeler segment. Swedish premium car maker Volvo Car Corp has also expressed its desire to sell electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid cars in India after 2019.
Earlier, the Indian government, supporting clean energy movement, had declared that it wants all vehicles in India to be equipped with electricity by 2030.
