Swaraj Baggonkar Moneycontrol News
The Mahindra Group is not so keen on entering the electric two-wheeler market in India, given the concerns around high initial cost and fears of limited demand for its premium range.
Interestingly, Mahindra is the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles in the country with a portfolio of hatchbacks, sedans and vans powered by batteries.
On the sidelines of the launch of lithium-ion-powered electric three-wheeler Treo, a senior executive of Mahindra & Mahindra confirmed that there are no plans at the moment to get into the mass-market electric two-wheeler segment, and that the company would rather focus on cars and buses for the time being.
"We have left out two-wheelers for now. We are focusing on four-wheelers and buses. What we are doing is not the electric scooters we see here. We are doing high end scooters and there cost will never be sustainable. As of now no plans to bring those electric scooters to India," said Pawan Goenka, Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra.
In the petrol-powered two-wheeler space, Mahindra is the smallest player in the country, with products such as the Mojo, Gusto, Centuro and Rodeo. It added the Jawa range to its portfolio this week. But despite its now popular brand presence in the electric vehicle space, the group has opted out of venturing into the electric two-wheeler category.
On the other hand, Mahindra's peers are aggressively working towards electrifying their future range. Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Company, Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, Eicher Motors-owned Royal Enfield and Hero Motocorp are all developing electric motorcycles and scooters that will be launched in the beginning of next year.
In addition to this, at least a dozen start-ups are either in their final lap of launching performance electric motorcycles and scooters, or are fast ramping up their research and development to make a splash in this segment. Some of these companies are Tork Motorcycles, Ampere, Ultraviolette, Emflux and Ather Energy.
Mahindra & Mahindra already has an electric scooter on sale in the US, which was developed with developed markets in mind. Called the GenZe, the scooter is powered by lithium-ion batteries.
Goenka also said that work on another electric scooter is underway for their European brand Peugeot. The scooter is being developed in Pune.
"We have an electric scooter selling in the US called GenZe and also creating another scooter for Peugeot Motorcycles (PMTC) which is designed and developed in Pune but not to be sold in India," Goenka said.
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