Mahindra may have been a little late in the EV stretch, but the homegrown car maker is determined to make up for lost ground. While we wait for the company to unveil its strategy for the electric vehicle market next month, it has been gearing up to launch its first electric vehicle based on the born electric platform. By 2027, the company plans to have 5 electric SUVs in its lineup, those being 4 all-new EVs and the eXUV400, which is an elongated electric version of the XUV300 subcompact SUV. To help achieve this, M&M has reportedly hired 900 engineers at its engineering and R&D centre in Chennai, the Mahindra Research Valley (MRV). This number adds to the existing tally of 2,400 engineers in the R&D centre and will aid in the expansion of the centre to design and develop new electric products.
M&M Electric’s R&D base in Bengaluru was the hub of EV engineering until recently, and though M&M is expanding the MRV, the Bengaluru R&D centre will continue to play a supporting role in developing EVs. “We have our EV track in Detroit too, and they also do one of the programmes for us. In the UK, we have the design centre led by Chief Designer Pratap Bose. The styling happens there. Rest of the engineering, the architecture, happens here (MRV),” R Velusamy, President, Automotive Technology and Product Development, M&M, confirming that M&M’s engineering base in Detroit, Mahindra North American Technical Centre, will continue contributing to the ‘Born Electric’ SUVs, along with Mahindra Advanced Designs Europe in the UK. Mahindra reportedly may also set up a satellite engineering centre for electronics in Coimbatore, as the demand for software and electronics continues to grow in the auto industry.
Despite the expansion of the MRV, Mahindra is still looking to cooperate with other EV makers to source components. Mahindra has also partnered up with VW, and the German automaker will supply components to Mahindra from its MEB platform.
