NOVO DELHI – Volkswagen is exploring a partnership to supply electrical components to Indian automakers Mahindra and Mahindra, the companies said on Thursday.
Volkswagen and Mahindra are assessing the scope of cooperation and expect to complete the supply agreement by the end of 2022, they said.
Mahindra builds a ground-up electric car (EV) a platform called “Born Electric”, which plans to use components such as electric motors, battery system parts and batteries from Volkswagen.
The partnership comes at a time when the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is offering companies billions of dollars as incentives to build EVs and their parts locally as India seeks to achieve its climate change and carbon reduction targets.
“Together with Mahindra, we want to make a significant contribution to the electrification of India,” said Thomas Schmal, CEO of Volkswagen Group Components.
Volkswagen has developed a modular open vehicle platform for EVs called MEB, which is used to build its own cars and the cars of other group companies including Too bad and Audi. It also allows Volkswagen to be a supplier of electrical technology and parts to other automakers.
Rajesh Jejurikar, Mahindra’s chief executive of the automotive and agricultural sectors, said Volkswagen’s “extensive technology, innovation and vertical integration into supply chains” would lay the groundwork for the development of the Mahindra EV platform, which the company will showcase soon.
(Report by Aditi Shah; Edited by Kim Kogil)
https://www.autoblog.com/2022/05/22/vw-mahindra-ev-partnership/
