Volkswagen, Mahindra & Mahindra sign agreement to collaborate on EVs

The Volkswagen, Mahindra & Mahindra agreement comes in less than 6 months after Mahindra brought the curtains down on all kinds of collaborations with Ford Motor Co on December 31, 2021.

Volkswagen and Mahindra & Mahindra are exploring the use of MEB electric components for Mahindra’s new “Born Electric Platform,” Mahindra said in a statement on Thursday. The two companies signed a partnering agreement on Wednesday to evaluate the scope of collaboration, the statement said.

Designed as an open vehicle platform, the MEB electric platform and its components allow car manufacturers to build their portfolio of electrified vehicles, quickly and cost-effectively.

The agreement with Volkswagen comes less than 6 months after Mahindra brought the curtains down on all kinds of collaborations with Ford Motor Co on December 31, 2021.

Mahindra said it intends to equip its "Born Electric Platform” with MEB electric components such as electric motors, battery system components and battery cells. The agreement evaluates the scope of collaboration – it indicates binding rules for the evaluation phase as well as the non-binding scope of supply.

The binding supply agreement will be negotiated in a continued constructive and legally compliant way to conclude by the end of 2022.

The shared objective of the two companies is to electrify the Indian automotive market, one of the most important automotive growth markets and a key element in the global decarbonisation of the mobility sector, the company said.

“Mahindra is a pioneer in the electric mobility space in India and a great partner for our MEB electric platform,” said Thomas Schmall, Volkswagen Group Board of Management member for Technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group said in the statement.

Together with Mahindra, Volkswagen wants to contribute significantly to the electrification of India, he added. “It’s another proof point that the MEB is both technologically state of the art and highly competitive in terms of cost. The MEB is thus progressively developing into the leading open platform for e-mobility, generating significant volume and economies of scale. That’s crucial for every company in the EV world and the key to competitive solutions for our customers,” he said.

“We are very pleased to have Volkswagen, a significant global investor in the electric mobility space, as a strategic partner in achieving our ambitious Born Electric Vison,” Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director, Auto and Farm Sectors, M&M said.

The complementarity of their extensive technology, innovation, and vertical integration in supply chains, will provide a framework to develop our next gen “Born Electric Platform”, to be revealed soon in Oxfordshire UK. Our teams across India, UK and Detroit are passionately creating a breath-taking future,” said Jejurikar.

India is one of the global top-5 automotive markets with about 3 million vehicles per year. According to current forecasts, the market could grow to up to 5 million vehicles by 2030. So far, the market has been dominated by vehicles with diesel or petrol engines.

However, at the 2021 Climate Summit in Glasgow, India undertook only to register zero-emission passenger cars and vans, starting in 2035. As a result, the electrification of the passenger car segment is expected to gain significant momentum in the coming years. Industry experts anticipate that in 2030 more than half of all new vehicles will be fully electric.

Volkswagen’s MEB Electric Platform is used by the Group brands Volkswagen, Audi, SKODA and SEAT/CUPRA as well as external partners. Responsibility for these partnerships has been assigned to the “Platform Business” unit created specifically for this purpose, the statement said.