Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles, a part of the $16.9 billion Mahindra Group, will launch its electric cars in the European market next year. Mahindra Reva, which expects to hit European roads in next year, said it will export Completely Built Units (CBU) manufactured in Bengaluru.
Talking about exports and expansion plans, Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles, VP Sales and Marketing, Jagan Kurian said, “We are looking at foreign markets for our growth. With the ecosystem growing in Europe for electric vehicles, we would look at Europe more than any other market.”
However, he did not disclose the sales target for the foreign market. According to industry estimates, of the total electric car sales globally, around 90 per cent of sales happen in the US, Europe and China.
“We are looking at the ecosystem which is evolving. We feel Europe to be a better place to be in 2016,” added Mr Kurian.
Apart from expanding footprint in overseas market, Mahindra Reva is looking at more presence in the domestic market. The company currently sells its cars in eight major cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Jaipur, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Delhi through its existing Mahindra partner networks.
“We are looking at a few more cities in India by the mid of next calendar year. We are looking at few markets and are talking to state governments. For a product like ours, local tax structure is very important,” he added.
Stressing on the need for infrastructure creation for the adoption of electric vehicles in the country, Mahindra Reva Chief Executive Officer Arvind Mathew said for electric vehicles, charging point is important infrastructure need. The government has to create infrastructure like charging facility which help in adoption of these vehicles.
Mahindra and government have partnered for re-charging points and in Bengaluru it has over 22 such facilities. In April, government has committed around Rs.800 crore under the FAME India - Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric- vehicles scheme to improve the electric vehicle ecosystem in India. Under the scheme, the government offers an incentive on electric and hybrid vehicles of up to Rs.29,000 for bikes and Rs.1.38 lakh for cars.