Mahindra bets on premium electric SUVs to boost market share

Pune: Mahindra, the SUV specialists, has launched a new range of electric vehicles through which it looks to boost its market share by entering segments dominated by rivals Hyundai Motor and Toyota.

Mumbai-based Mahindra, second largest SUV maker in volumes, introduced the smaller sporty BE 6e and luxurious XEV 9e electric SUVs priced at Rs 18.90 lakh and Rs 21.90 lakh on Tuesday. The launch also marks the debut of Mahindra’s new sub-brands, BE and XEV.

These new SUVs have a driving range of more than 500 km on a single full charge.

With its smaller SUV, Mahindra will enter India's fast-growing compact SUV market, which grew nearly 20% in the first six months of the current fiscal year and is dominated by Hyundai's Creta SUV and Toyota's Urban Cruiser Hyryder SUV.

The rival Creta and Hyryder models are either hybrids or petrol fuelled. According to Mahindra that gives it an edge in terms of running costs.

“We believe we have a very competitive offering which will create a new category in the Indian automobile market,” said Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director and CEO at Mahindra (Auto and Farm Sector) said.

While the EV market in the country is small, making up about 2 per cent of total car sales of 4 million last year, the government is pushing the EV market to increase it to 30 per cent by 2030.

At present, Tata Motors dominates the EV market in India, Mahindra had only one electric model before the launch of the two SUVs that will help it drive further market share gains.

Mahindra is likely to succeed in its mission to gain market share as its two new electric SUVs are equipped with plush interiors and a wide touchscreen that stretches from the driver to the front passenger.

The automaker plans to start by manufacturing 90,000 units of the two EVs a year, before raising it to 200,000 units by March 2026.

Mahindra said it will start deliveries of the first vehicles by the end of February 2025.

Mahindra wants EVs to form at least 20 per cent of its SUV sales by 2027, and will launch five more electric models by 2030.

The automaker said it had spent more than $500 million on developing the new platform for its EVs, and on manufacturing the two SUVs, from a planned five-year EV budget of nearly $2 billion between 2022 and 2027, which includes powertrain development, software & tech and manufacturing capacity.