Indian multinational car manufacturing business Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is open to investing in a battery-cell company to safeguard its future battery supply, as reported by Reuters on July 11. Anish Shah, CEO of M&M, stated that the business may explore such an investment to fulfill its electrification demands. The announcement was made after M&M raised USD250m from British International Investment for its new electric vehicle (EV) business, which is valued at USD9.1bn. M&M has also formed a relationship with Volkswagen AG for the supply of EV components such as batteries and motors.

M&M intends to release five electric sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) in the next years. By March 2027, these electric SUVs are predicted to contribute 30% of the firm’s total annual SUV sales, or around 200,000 vehicles. According to people familiar with the matter, South Korean battery company LG Energy Solution would supply batteries for M&M’s first electric SUVs.  M&M’s XUV400 SUV will be available between the fourth quarter of this year and January of next year. The electrification of motor vehicles in India is growing, as seen by the sales of EVs in 2021. In 2021 alone, overall EV sales in India reached around 1m units, equivalent to cumulative sales over the previous 15 years.

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/mahindra-open-investing-ev-battery-cell-maker-secure-supplies-ceo-2022-07-10/

https://d1ev.com/news/qiye/175742

https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/skoreas-lg-energy-solution-supply-batteries-indias-mahindra-source-2022-07-11/

https://www.cnfin.com/hg-lb/detail/20220330/3571232_1.html