Indian automaker Mahindra’s tie-up with the Volkswagen Group will see it introduce 5 electrical automobiles throughout two new sub-brands, and it has revealed all of them in idea kind.
Mahindra is investing as much as US$250 million (A$356 million) in electrical automobiles which is able to use parts sourced from the Volkswagen Group.
The 5 automobiles are all SUVs, previewed by Mahindra at its new Superior Design Europe studio in Banbury within the UK. The model says it has a drivable prototype of one of many vehicles.
The vary consists of the BE.05, BE.07 and BE.09 from the BE sub-brand, and the XUV.e8 and XUV.e9 from the XUV.e sub-brand, the latter identify a nod to Mahindra’s current XUV fashions.
Mahindra will introduce the primary 4 of those between 2024 and 2026.
The corporate is referring to the XUV.e fashions as “Electrifying Twin Peaks” – a reference to not David Lynch’s surreal drama, however to its emblem – and these fashions will “honour” the corporate’s legacy, whereas BE fashions can have an “audacious” new design language.
All 5 automobiles trip a brand new modular platform known as Inglo, which is able to use lithium iron phosphate batteries with a capability of between 60-80kWh.
Mahindra says they’ll supply two completely different cell architectures: blade and prismatic. They’ll assist fast-charging at as much as 175kW and supply Car to Load (V2L) performance.
Inglo-based fashions will supply both 170kW-210kW rear-wheel drive or 250kW-290kW all-wheel drive electrical powertrains, with the latter providing 0-100km/h occasions of between 5 and 6 seconds – although no vary figures have been quoted.
Mahindra will use electrical motors, battery system parts and battery cells from the Volkswagen Group’s MEB structure, which underpins fashions just like the Volkswagen ID.4 and Cupra Born.
The 2 corporations have signed a Time period Sheet and can negotiate a closing provide settlement by 12 months’s finish, and say the tie-up will lead to “a quantity of a couple of million models over lifetime”.
They’ll discover additional alternatives for collaboration “opening the angle in direction of a broader strategic alliance to speed up the electrification of the Indian automotive market”.
Whereas Mahindra is greatest identified for its rugged, utilitarian fashions just like the Pik-Up, it’s pitching the upcoming EVs as completely modern fashions.
To that finish, they function embedded 5G connectivity and assist over-the-air updates, and have been future-proofed to supply Stage 2+ autonomous driving expertise.
Mahindra additionally touts the presence of semi-active suspension that’ll guarantee trip consolation – necessary on Indian roads that usually put ours to disgrace for ruggedness – and promise the automobiles will supply an “immersive sporty drive expertise”.
The corporate additionally says its Inglo-based fashions will even obtain a five-star World N-CAP ranking.
Mahindra says it expects EVs to account for 20 to 30 per cent of its SUV gross sales by March 2027.
For reference, throughout the 2021/22 fiscal 12 months, Mahindra bought 225,895 passenger automobiles and 177,117 gentle business automobiles in India, with complete exports of 32,510.
Mahindra says it already has expertise within the electrical car area because it holds a 70 per cent share within the electrical three-wheeler phase in India, which it entered in 2017.
“For four-wheelers our plan is to go even larger. Not simply in India, however around the globe,” stated Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra.
“Mahindra Superior Design Europe would be the vanguard of our thrust into electrical automobiles.”
Mahindra isn’t the one firm that may make use of the Volkswagen Group’s MEB parts.
Ford will introduce an MEB-based mid-sized electrical crossover in Europe in 2023 and confirmed earlier this 12 months it’ll introduce a second MEB-based mannequin.
The 2 fashions will be part of Ford of Europe’s increasing EV lineup, which will even develop to incorporate a Puma EV.