Utility vehicle market leader Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) will invest USD 1 billion into its Korean subsidiary SsangYong Motor Company in the next four years.
SsangYong aims to develop electric vehicles (EV) jointly with M&M and launch them in 2019. Besides there is also the plan to enter the US market around the same time.
"We are aiming to develop high-end EVs by 2019 to enter the US and Chinese markets," Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra Group, said in a press conference held on the sidelines of the Seoul Motor Show.
To keep costs under check, M&M who has already ploughed USD 1 billion into SsangYong in the last five years, will develop electric solutions for existing models. M&M developed a fully-electric variant of petrol and diesel models of Verito and Maxximo which are on sale in India.
“The electric vehicles to be developed will not be entire new platforms, but modified ones adopting the existing platforms like those of Tivoli or Korando, said CEO Choi Jong-sik of SsangYong Motor, according to the business magazine BusinessKorea.
Mahindra had made its debut in the FIA Formula E Championship, a race meant only for electric cars on the lines of the traditional F1 championship. The Mumbai-based company hopes to pass on the benefit of its learnings to building the proposed EVs.
“Mahindra will share the test results that it obtained recently from participating in the league of Formula 1 EV Race,” Mahindra added.
Mahindra & Mahindra owns a 72.85 percent stake in SsangYong. The Indian carmaker acquired the Korea-based car maker in March 2011, which was in bankruptcy proceedings. SsangYong made a turnaround to the black in 2016 for the first time since the acquisition on strong sales of new models like Tivoli compact SUV.
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