Mahindra CEO Challenges BYD And Tesla
Mahindra & Mahindra has created commotion in the industry with the BE 6e and XEV 9e pricing. For now, they have revealed just the entry prices: 18.90 lakh and Rs. 21.90 Lakh, respectively. These are disruptive considering the powertrain specifications of these models.
Post-launch, the Indian giant’s CEO Rajesh Jejurikar casually threw an open challenge at BYD and Tesla- two behemoths in the global EV scene, the details of which are interesting.
According to a report by TOI, CEO Rajesh Jejurikar said Mahindra was not afraid of global EV-makers like BYD and Tesla and was instead keen on seeing them launch products such as these in India at similar prices. “Even after they localise, let’s see if any of these players can do what we are doing”- says the man, confidently.
Why Mahindra’s EV Game Plan Deserves More Attention?
The Indian carmaker has put in as much as Rs 12,000 crore into its EV journey. More than the budget, it is the roadmap it took and how the products were realised sticking to carefully curated timelines, that deserves praise. It took the manufacturer just 3 years to get these from sketches to production- and from the way they felt at the official media drives, both the 6e and 9e feel like well-executed products. This also stands out as M&M’s fastest development project.
Jejurikar proudly says that Mahindra’s new EVs are comparable to global best products on “every possible parameter, except the pricing”, and we find it hard to disbelieve. Mahindra benchmarked these against segment-best models for various features/areas. From what we understand, these were benchmarked against selected models from Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, and BYD for various features and tech.
This is not the first time that Mahindra chooses famed Germans/ Czechs for benchmarking. The XUV 700 had the Skoda Kodiaq as its benchmark, for driving dynamics and handling. The folks at Mahindra always strives to overdeliver in terms of engineering- we know how well the 700 drives and goes around corners.
Mahindra’s vast supply chain and expanding range of vendors are also to be thanked for the quick accomplishment of this project. The Indian giant has ongoing partnerships with several top vendors for component and technology sourcing. You get to know how serious the game is when you see Dolby Atmos being realised through Harman Kardon speakers in an Indian car! In fact, in the proposed Mahindra- Volkswagen partnership that is still known to be in the discussion phase, one of the German juggernaut’s key takeaways would be getting access to this vendor chain.
A strong local supplier chain has also helped Mahindra slay it with the prices. Most of their vehicles are priced extremely competitively- be it the XUV 700, Thar Roxx or the BEV twins. Thus getting access to this would allow VW to build well-priced products. We have talked about how M&M is negotiating from a point of strength in a previous story.
The other major reason for the manufacturer’s ‘price wizard’ nature is its local development and manufacturing. Doing the various stages of these in India helps larger costs under check.
Mahindra seems to have ample clarity on why and how they brought a car that looks as radical as the BE 6e into series production. Instead of seeing it as a styling overdose, the company is confident about the Indian market being receptive to tech-loaded, rad-looking, properly priced products. Jejurikar cites the example of ADAS- a technology which was once confined to high-end cars alone, and how it has now become almost everyone’s ‘My car should have this’ item.
Furthermore, he makes a rather interesting remark about Mahindra cars “I don’t think our cars are ahead of time. They become ahead of time only if they are priced too high, which our cars are not” – spitting facts we’d say… Mahindra’s confidence in pricing their products right and in engineering them could make them wear the cloak of ‘ Tesla of India’! The fact that the folks at Mahindra created two world-class BEV products in just 3 years further underlines this confidence.
Mahindra BE 6e And XEV 9e: Two STRONG Products For The World!
The BE6e and XEV 9e are both based on the INGLO platform. It is, however, not the case that the scope of these would be limited to India alone. Mahindra has recently been expanding its business extensively in countries like South Africa, Australia etc. For success in markets like Australia, the product needs to be global and competant- both with its styling and technical sides.
The INGLO is truly a global platform and can support various battery sizes, body styles and top hat dimensions. You can base RWD, AWD and FWD vehicles on it. This platform has been developed by Mahindra in-house. The electric motor comes from the vendor ‘Valeo’. The battery packs are most likely from BYD (LFP blade cells) and some core powertrain components have also been sourced from Volkswagen.
Coming to the styling, both vehicles have modern, futuristic styling to their exteriors and the cabins. Both of them are tech-packed and come with top-quality materials and finishes inside. The surfacing, textures and colours used in most places are unique and likeable. Moreover, they appeal to most global markets. Mahindra’s design teams in both the MIDS ( Mahindra India Design Studio) and MADE (Mahindra Advanced Design Europe) in Banbury, UK have jointly developed these designs.
To sum it up, Mahindra has two extremely appealing and ‘ equally global’ products priced well in the Indian market. The open challenge to BYD and Tesla is thus not to be dismissed for a joke or hoax. The manufacturer hopes EVs to make up 30% of the market by 2030, and is already working towards securing their chunk of it.
But how can they be so confident to challenge the likes of BYD- who supplies battery packs to their global products? Friendly challenge or is Mahindra working on a BYD-challenging battery (and tech) ? Only time can tell…