Mahindra Group plans to comeback in EV space with passenger cars in July-August

One of the first movers in the electric mobility space with launches like e-Verito to meet the government's electric car procurement programme tender in 2017, the Mahindra Group plans a comeback in the electric vehicle EV space with a host of passenger cars slated to be announced in July this year.

We have been a leader in the space for many years and we understand battery management systems, needs of consumers in this space, how electric cars are used, etc. Our approach was to leapfrog into born electric models. We will see a lot of that in the July-August time frame when we do a complete reveal of our electric plans, Anish Shah, MD and CEO, Mahindra Group told Business Today s Rahul Kanwal on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum WEF in Davos.

We are confident that we will be able to gain leadership based on the models we have planned for and the quality we see. He said that the appetite for electric cars will be very high.

He said there are three factors that will drive EV adoption in India. He said there was a cost of ownership.

If electric is going to be expensive, that adds to the cost. There is range anxiety and there is a third part to it, and there is infrastructure. The adoption of electric will be driven by these three things. It is here to stay. We have a wide range of electric cars like the XUV 700 that can take the leadership space. Electric will phase out ICE over time, he said.

Mahindra s XUV 700 has been one of its most successful launches in the recent past.

We sold 50,000 cars in three hours, and we still get more than 11,000 bookings every month. If you look at any other launch over the last few months in this segment, there are very few launches that have gained close to these numbers and most have been much lower. The challenge is to ramp up production. He said there were supply side issues that have exasperated the problem and that have eased out a bit.

Talking about the challenges of the auto industry over the last couple of years, Shah said, there have been challenges and commodity prices have been on a significant rise.

It depends on the geopolitical factors that play out. If things settle down, then we are past the peak and the actions that have been taken by the RBI and the government will settle things well, he said.

The question is whether inflation goes higher than what it is at this stage. My sense is that it probably won't, given some of the actions that have been taken. Demand has been reasonable so far. He added that there has not been a drop off across the various industries that we have been in and that I am cautiously optimistic.