Mahindra's 1st Electric Vehicle Unveiled: This Vehicle to hit the Road in Jan 2023

The carmaker stated that the company would drive its EV early next year, the above move of the company would help push for green mobility.

On the Eve of World EV Day, which has been celebrated on 8th of this month, Mahindra & Mahindra has unveiled its first ever electric vehicle (EV) SUV XUV400.

The carmaker stated that the company would drive its EV early next year, the above move of the company would help push for green mobility.

The above vehicle was unveiled globally by M&M, it is five-seater model, which comes with a driving range of 456 km (ARAI Certified ) on a single charge and it can attain 0 to 100 km per hour acceleration in mere 8.3 seconds. Further, it would be operating in the C-segment SUV category, the XUV400 is 4200 mm long having a wheelbase of 2600mm, which offers its occupants boot space around 378 litres/418 litres (up to roof). At 1821 mm, it is also the widest e-SUV in the category, M&M added.

While speaking at the event, the M&M, Executive Director (Auto and Farm sectors) Rajesh Jejurikar stated there is immense opportunity in the market for electric vehicles, especially in the SUV space. Pour research indicates around 25% of the SUV owners are presently looking to buy an electric SUV as their next car, this is how big the opportunity presently, he noted.

When it comes to market penetration, it is negligible at the moment and the company is only looking to create and grow the segment, he further added, when asked about the sales target for the model. As of now, there exist only a handful of electric models in the domestic market with Tata motors Nexon leading the space.

The Electric Vehicle penetration in the domestic market remain around 1% but with the addition of new models coming in, it is expected to grow at a faster pace in the coming few years. Jejurikar noted, that the test drives of the Electric SUV would begin in the month of December 2022 and the bookings would start from the 1st week of January 2023 at both dealerships as well as online.

XUV400 deliveries would start from end of January 2023, he added. During the 1st phase of the launch, it would cover around 16 cities, which include Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Goa, Jaipur and Surat.

The market is extremely receptive for a clean, enjoyable as well as capable vehicle and we would witness robust growth in the category. M&M President (Automotive Division) Veejay Nakra stated in the previous month, at an event in the UK, the Indian auto Major has made announcement that, it would launch about 5 electric SUVs for both domestic as well as international markets.

The automaker further added that, the 5 electric SUV model will be introduced under 2 brands -XUV and the all-new electric -only brand called BE. Legacy brands would come under the XUV brand while the all-new electric models would be rolled under the RF lineage.

The Mumbai-based automaker expects to sell around quarter of the electric SUVs by 2027. The company has also begun talks with varied state governments to set up manufacturing infrastructure for its electric SUVs.

The automaker, presently rolls out its conventional ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles from plants in varied states, which include states such as Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The Mahindra Group has been committed to being net zero carbon by 2040 and its expects electric vehicles to have a major role to play in this endeavour.